


The Fall of Our Fathers

by Cyber_Emblem



Series: Crusaders Reborn Saga [3]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: Ch 1 is Belhalla, Ch 2 is Claude/Sylvia, Ch 3 is Brigid/Jamke/Holyn, Ch 4 is Ayra/Dew and Lex, Ch 5 is Adean and Midir, Ch 6 is Azel and Tailtiu, Ch 7 is Lachesis centric, F/M, Lachesis origin story, The End, Writer is bad at math, everyone dies, except not really, like half of them wind up technically living, or is it half?, post ch 4 it becomes origin story combined with fates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2019-10-20 05:18:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17616251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyber_Emblem/pseuds/Cyber_Emblem
Summary: A collection of prequel stories to my other story, Crusaders Reborn. about the fates of the Gen 1 characters in FE 4. It's in continuity with Crusaders Reborn and Brigid's Holiday. Taking place in Jugdral, and written in a much darker fashion. The first tale is about the battle of Belhalla. The rest of the chapters are focused on the different couple or individual survivors of the "battle"I have no intent on doing chapters on anyone who clearly died on screen during Gen 1 (this means Eldigan, Quan, Ethlin, and Sigurd), but everyone else is fair game (though Deirdre is covered in C.R). Warning: contains major character deaths.





	1. The Massacred of Belhalla

**Author's Note:**

> The warning tags are present for a reason people, this first chapter is about Belhalla. It was written in February of 2016

_"_ _**Arvis you dastard!** " such ridiculous last words, especially coming from him, Sigurd of Chalphy, a man so noble and so loved by those he met. However, his poor choice in last words could hardly be held against him. He had come to Belhalla thinking that he had won, that everything would finally have a satisfying, if bittersweet, end. Then Arvis declared that Sigurd and his men were still considered traitors and were to be put to death. Then he called out his wife. HIS wife. There was no doubt that it was Deidre but… when Sigurd looked into those beautiful eyes that had once adored him, he could only see confusion and a lack of recognition. They had had a son together for God's sake! How could she not recognize him? Even worse, she had an slightly swollen belly. Sigurd and Deidre had not seen each other in over a year! So his sudden loss of the ability to use current and more fitting terms could be forgiven. Though for years to come the rulers of the empire would use it as a joke about failed ambition, the ridiculousness of the phrase was the last thing on Sigurd's mind as Arvis brought the full power of Valaflame down upon him. All Sigurd could do was shed silent tears which immediately evaporated as his body was disintegrated from the head down in a span of five seconds._

* * *

As soon as the first meteors struck, Dew knew that he had to be fast, and he had to put his backup plan into action. Something in his gut had told him that something would go horribly wrong, he wasn't the only one who felt it, yet he still insisted on feigning ignorance over the reasons for everyone's behavior. Yet at the same time, he had prepared for the worst. Return Rings, interesting items those. If activated, they could send you away from danger and back to the last place the ring was connected to. The location could be changed, but it wasn't cost effective to do it at every location visited, so most would connect it to their base of operations before a campaign.

Dew had made sure to "acquire" several of these before they set out to face the might of the Grandbell army, so that if things went horribly wrong, he'd have a way to get his comrades and himself away from the danger. Of course, he'd have to survive to do that, but after intense training with his wife, he felt that he could stand up for himself if necessary. Plus he trusted his dodging abilities, something that had come in handy whether as a thief or as a soldier. In the past, he would have abandoned the others to save his own skin, but now he was in his late teens, married to a woman of Amazonian qualities, and had twins to look after. He actually gave a damn about others now, so he was scouring the battlefield for his companions.

He quickly came across Sylvia and Claude. Claude was on the ground bleeding profusely and had a nasty looking head wound. A Swordfighter was stalking them and approaching slowly, and Sylvia had her Defense sword at the ready to protect her new husband, but the man thought nothing of it. Knowing that Sylvia likely didn't stand a chance, Dew used his Wind Sword to knock the blade out of the man's hand. Then Dew rushed forward and decapitated him. "Are you alright Sylvia?" he asked.

"She nodded "Yes, I'm alright, but Claude! and the others!" she said, terror plain to hear in her voice.

"You'd better get him out of here." Dew said, pulling a couple of Return rings out of his bag. "These will teleport you back to Zaxon. You should be able to get medical aid there. You should see some of the others soon, I'm going to hand out as many of these as I can. I wish you luck, and please, wish it for me."

"No luck, the god's will." said Claude, half deliriously. Sylvia nodded and slipped the ring on his finger, and then hers, and they disappeared.

After this, Dew was remarkably successful in saving his comrades. Mostly because he didn't directly involve himself in any of the various skirmishes happening across the battlefield, and although there were many soldiers dying, Dew's friends were the elite. They were not going to go down easily. He found Adean and Midir next, and after showing them the Return rings, she used her last use of her warp staff to save her husband and save his ring for another, and then took a ring for herself and escaped. Though as this happened, Dew wondered why Adean had chosen to stay yet Raquesis had left. He then found Holyn, Jamke, and Briggid, all fighting back to back, and after assisting them, ensured their escape. He then found Azel and Lex in a similar situation. Having sent Tailto back to Zaxon after they took Phinora, and not wanting to devastate her in her already emotional state, Azel quickly accepted the ring and made his escape, but Lex wasn't so ready to leave.

"You'd have me abandon the others? I don't know what goes on in that head of yours or why you think that I'll turn coward and run. That is how you do things, not me. I won't ditch my comrades." he shouted at Dew

"Azel just left without any hesitation or arguments, Lex! Are you calling your best friend a coward for doing that?" Dew shouted

"He had a perfectly good reason to leave like that. I don't think any less of him whatsoever for it. He had every reason to leave now."

"So do you! I'm getting everyone out of here as quickly and safely as possible, direct battle won't help much at this point Lex! Everyone else will be glad just to see that your'e still breathing! Admit it, you really just want to look good in front of MY WIFE!"

"AYRA SHOULDN'T EVEN BE YOUR-" their argument was interrupted by nearby explosion, and by nearby, I mean close enough to knock them off their feat, but not close enough to be lethal.

"Fine! Get yourself killed for all I care. Iv'e got to save my wife and the rest of our friends!" Dew shouted, and he began to sprint. As he moved closer to the castle, he stopped short in horror at what he saw.

* * *

Noish had been thrown off of his horse when the the first volley of meteors had been thrown. As he recovered and watched in horrified fascination as his master died, Noish decided that all that he had left to do is gather his fellow knights of Chalphy and avenge their master as best as they could. He'd lost his horse, but wan't otherwise unharmed, so he started rushing through the battlefield. "Alec? Arden?" he called out, running through the battlefield. He found them together. Arden laying on the ground, and Alec standing beside him, clutching a wound in his side. "Alec, I'm glad to see you survived the first onslaught, Arden, you have to get up buddy we-" Noish stopped short and drew back in horror when he saw the state his friend was in. He was staring directly at Arden's chest. He could clearly see the ground.

"We're all that's left buddy. A couple of horseless cavaliers of Chalphy. It's the end, and to think, I never got to know any of the ladies, or get Sylvia to show me that special dance of her's!" Alec bemoaned.

"Don't talk like that Alec, we can still give the enemy hell and avenge our master in the process. Let's find the others, we'll regroup and then-" He was interrupted by another volley that sent him flying through the air. "Alec? Alec where are you" he called as his vision cleared, with the first thing he could make out being the remains of Alec's turban fluttering to the ground, and then he saw the ghastly mess caused by a direct hit from a meteor spell. "No…"

Then he heard a cackling voice from behind him. "Thus is the fate that shall befall all that interfere with the dark lord's return."

Noish turned to the voice. "You… You're a member of the dark sect!"

"Yes. Not just any member, however. I am Archbishop Manfroy, and I am here to ensure that some… particular pests perish on this day." he said with a malevolent grin.

"You shall perish for what you have done here this day!" Noish cried as he charged forward.

"That's an unlikely event, especially at the hands of a mere knight such as yourself." Manfroy said as a dark tendril appeared, grabbed Noish's sword arm, and slammed him to the ground. "You are of no consequence, and are of no threat, yet…" the tendril then wrapped around Noish's throat and pulled him upright, so he was in a kneeling position as he tried to get air "I might as well eliminate you, considering I'm here and all." Manfroy then grabbed Noish's face, and channeled his dark magic directly into Noish's head, making it decay and collapse in on itself, until what remained imploded. Manfroy let the not so fresh corpse fall to the ground, then he turned to the sound of hoofbeats.

Beowolf had seen his comrades in arms in distress and rushed towards them, but alas, he had arrived just in time to see Noish die. He tried to spin his horse about, but dark tendrils lashed out, impaled the horse, grabbed Beowolf by the waist, and threw him roughly to the ground, arms forward. "Any last words?" Manfroy asked him.

"Finn you lucky bastard, you'd better take damn good care of Raquesis and Delmund."

"As good a last phrase as any. Certainly better than your leader's." Manfroy said as he made the tendrils lash out again. They entered Beowolf's right thigh and came out of his left shoulder, then they curved around and went down his throat and out the small of his back, then into the back of his neck and then out of the top of his head. Then Manfroy made a pulling motion and that was the gruesome end of Beowolf.

Then Manfroy grinned again when he heard the sound of howling wind behind him. "This wonderful day just doesn't want to end, does it?" he said as he whirled around to face Lewyn. The tendrils shot out, but were blown back by the might of the Forsetti tome. Manfroy grunted a little at this, but was otherwise unharmed. "The mighty king of Silesse, just the pest that I was looking to exterminate." he said as he used the Jormung spell. Lewyn dodged this, but was unable to avoid the Hell spell that followed. Lewyn cried out in pain and then began to vomit black fluids, shaking heavily.

"And so it ends for you." said Manfroy, preparing the finishing blow he was interrupted, however, by Lewyn's wife. Ferry kept trying to strike Manfroy with her slim lance, but he dodged all of her blows. She sent her mount upwards and Lewyn tried using Forsetti again, this time, hitting Manfroy with some debris, knocking him back, but not knocking him out. Ferry used the opening to get her husband onto her mount. As soon as she had secured him, Manfroy lashed out with the tendrils again. They were stopped by Ayra's silver sword.

"Get him out of here!" she called to Ferry, who quickly mounted and shot into the sky.

"Ah, the Isaacian wench that started this all. I'm glad your'e here, you've served your purpose, so now I think that it's high time that you died."

"I guess it's fair for you to attempt to mess with my head now. After all, I'm going to mess up yours!" she responded, and launched into a flurry of blows, all of which Manfroy countered with a tendril or a dodge. Suddenly, he grabbed her upper right arm. She cried out as she felt a terrible burning sensation course through her body.

"Are you sure you want to pay the price for opposing Loptyr? It's more than an arm and a leg." He said, as he tore the arm out of the socket and struck her with it. "But I suppose that they will do for now." he said as a tendril grabbed her by the legs, flipped her over and suspended her seven feet in the air.

Fortunately, anything further was prevented by a hand axe going through the tendril and Manfroy getting a blast of wind magic in the face, momentarily blinding him. Ayra dropped straight on top of her husband."Dew, I-"

"Don't speak, just get medical attention and wait for me." he said, slipping a Return ring onto the index finger of her remaining hand and activating it.

"I'm afraid that you'll be the one that will be waiting for her… IN HELL!" Manfroy shouted, shooting tendrils at Dew and Lex. While Lex cut them down, Dew bobbed and weaved and slashed around them. After about twenty seconds of this, one of them split open his bag as he was leaping, causing the remaining Return rings to spill out onto the ground. "Planning to save all the rest of your friends, are you?" Manfroy asked, casting a spell that made them all melt. "Not going to happen." he said.

While Dew was distracted by the loss, one of the tendrils grabbed him and pulled him to Manfroy. Preparing to kill him in the same fashion as Noish, Manfroy asked "Any last words?" and Dew said "Always be prepared." and then he was gone. He'd been wearing a Return ring all this time, he just hadn't activated it. Manfroy decided to turn his attention towards Lex… who had realized that he wasn't a match for the archbishop and had escaped at the same time as Dew.

Normally, Manfroy would have shouted in rage over his victims escaping, but not this time. He took it with a cool indifference. He knew that he had already won, and that he'd have all the time in the world to hunt them down. Neither they nor their children would be safe from the new age of Loptyr that was fast approaching.

 


	2. The Father's Dancing Wife

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Chapter about Claude and Sylvia. Written in the summer of 2016.

Dancing had been all she knew. Raised by an abusive man that she knew was not her father, it had been what cheered her up. As he drank away at the nearby bar, she would watch the dancers present. Sylvia thought they were lovely. All the men present seemed to think so too. So, she would practice at home while the man was passed out. She had hoped that someone would see her work as lovely as well, and that dancing would be her way out of the home of the man. So, once she hit puberty, she started to share her dances with the world. At first, it seemed wonderful, but within a month, a terrible day came. The day that she realized the truth about her occupation. That what she saw in the dancing was not what others saw. She wept and the man mocked her once he found out. But he wouldn't let her stop. Her dancing was a source of income, a way for him to continue drinking without working so hard. So he forced her to go on, and burned all of her more decent outfits to ensure that she would keep going. This held Sylvia back for about six months.

She began to stand outside for hours at a time when she wasn't dancing, no matter what the weather. She hoped that it would either make her to ill to dance or cause her to build a tolerance to bad whether, so that if she tried to escape, she could withstand any weather. Finally, she stopped thinking about escape, and just did. She ran to a nearby town. Quality of life wasn't much better for her there. All the townsfolk saw was a woman who was unashamed of what would make them turn crimson in shame. Sylvia didn't know better. She had grown accustomed to the outfits she wore, and thought nothing of them. It was her dancing outfit, and no one had told her that there was anything wrong with it.

No one knew this of course, thus they showed no sympathy for her. Eventually, she had to turn back to dancing to make a living. At first this was a bittersweet turn of events for her, but it turned sweet when she met him. A young man came to town, wearing a turban tangled in his messy green hair, and with a scarf around his neck. He said he was a traveling bard, and his talents certainly did seem to point to that as the truth. The first time he saw her dance, she called Sylvia and the dance beautiful. Then asked if she would like to go out to dinner with him.

This was a shocking turn of events for Sylvia. She had heard other men utter those words, but those words had never been uttered regarding her. So she accepted, he told her that his name was Lewyn before dinner, and after dinner he suggested that they should work together. They were both entertainers after all, and working together would be handy for both of them. She accepted gladly and quickly, as her heart had already latched on to the young man. So Lewyn and Sylvia worked together for the next couple of weeks. He didn't pay for all their meals, and they rarely ate together but when they did, he offered not one complaint.

Then one day, bandits attacked the village. Lewyn promised to clear them out, and proved that he could by displaying his talent for wind magic. This made Sylvia distraught. He was leaving her! She couldn't let him leave without her! Fortunately for her, acting like a jilted lover was enough to convince him to bring her along. They soon ran into an army, and Lewyn decided to join forces with them. Sylvia, of course followed suit. In an effort to make herself seem better than she was, she flirted with the commander… only to find out soon thereafter that he was married, and was expecting his first child. She was embarrassed by that and wanted to find a way to deflect that… so when one of his soldiers started flirting with HER, she responded to him in kind, and in a much more lecherous way than she would normally respond with. The day after, she was horrified with herself for her behavior… but refused to let it show. Instead, she became more clingy with Lewyn. And then a Silessian pegasus knight by the name of Ferry came along and revealed that Lewyn was their missing prince. After that, the desire to get him to marry her was solidified in her heart. Which was unfortunate for Sylvia, as Lewyn had his eyes locked on to Ferry from almost the day that she came along.

Naturally, this made Sylvia very jealous. She became quite spiteful towards Ferry, one day, she crossed a line with her words and made Ferry cry in public. That was when Sylvia realized that her attitude had caused her to deteriorate into the very kind of woman that many had assumed she was from the beginning. The realization was horrific and drove her into a panic. While she was panicking, she ran into Claude the Lord of Edda. The members of the Edda household were mostly religious leaders. Many had high positions in the church hierarchy, but none were required an oath of celibacy. It had been recognized long ago that enforcing one would be impractical and cause more problems than it caused. However, for the most part the members of House Edda did not search for romance. They used their position to help the people, and show unbiased kindness. If they found love, even when not pursing it, then it was the will of the gods.

So when Sylvia ran into Claude, and wanted to make a confession, Claude was willing to listen and not make a personal opinion on the matter. Starting a romance was the last thing on his mind. The confession, however, stuck in his mind, and later it made him ask about her personal life, and thus she told him her story. He sympathized with her, and was thereafter insistent in making sure that she was alright at all times. Over time, he started giving her gifts. What started it was Claude noticing that Sylvia was wearing her normal dancing outfit in the middle of winter while they were in Silesse. This was what wound up causing him to delve into her personal life. Soon after, he started buying her outfits. Outfits that she would be free to dance in, but were warmer and more decent for everyday wear. Sylvia accepted them gladly, and deciding that he made good company, she started to spend her spare time around him. Wanting to repay him, she began to do small things for him. She thought she was being subtle, but Claude noticed, and he appreciated it. Although he insisted that she didn't have to anything in return, she insisted that she did it because she wanted to. By then, Claude had already begun to develop feelings for her, so he did not press the issue.

Over time they became closer, and as they neared Belhalla, Claude tried to plead with her. He wanted her to get to safety, but she refused to leave without him, confessing that she wasn't about to abandon the man she loved. Claude hesitated for a moment, then said that if she was going to follow him into the arms of fate, she might as well do it as his wife. The wedding was shortly thereafter.

When things went to hell at Belhalla, Claude received a serious head injury. Serious as in, his eyes were burnt off. They survived thanks to Dew's foresight in bringing Return rings for everyone, but Claude would (obviously) never be able to see again. Sylvia stayed by his side and acted as his eyes. They stayed especially close that year.

One day, Claude sensed that Sylvia was anxious about something, and he asked her what was wrong. She said nothing, but she gently placed his hand on her belly and made him rub it. He understood immediately. "So, this father is to truly become one now." Sylvia gave birth to a girl, and they named her Leen. Sylvia had hopes that her little girl wouldn't have to live the same life that she did, but the couple knew that wish might be in vain. They hadn't been trying particularly hard to hide, and they worried that someone would take action against them.

Those fears were realized when Leen was almost two, when a priest of the Loptyr cult tried to kidnap and sacrifice baby Leen. This was an act that the cult normally wouldn't partake in (they preferred to wait until they could think for themselves before sacrificing them. An oddity in their religious code), but they did it purely to spite Claude. Fortunately baby Leen was saved, but this made them realized that they could no longer keep her around them. Leaving Leen in front of an orphanage in Darna was the most heartbreaking moment of Sylvia's life.

After that, Sylvia lived in the shadows. She still stayed with her husband, but didn't ever appear publicly. They hoped it would make their enemies think that she had disappeared or left him. Claude even hired a young church initiate to act as his eyes in order to foster the illusion. But even then, there was some persecution, and the couple were put into another tight spot when they found out that Sylvia was pregnant again. She gave birth to a son, Corple, and they put him in the orphanage like they did with Leen. A few years later, they faked their deaths. They did it to further protect their children from being hurt by their association with them. Only a handful of others knew the truth, and they used them to pull strings in their children's lives.

They managed to get Corple adopted by a kind Thracian general by the name of Hannibal. When he did this, Sylvia met him in private. She explained the truth to him and gave him the house of Edda's family heirloom, the Valkyrie staff. Once she explained the details, Hannibal promised to give it to Corple one day, and he swore that he would keep their ongoing survival a secret. Afterwards, Sylvia began to look into the welfare of Leen. She found that her daughter had become a dancer, just like herself, and recognized that her daughter was even more beautiful than she was. Sylvia recognized the problem that this would present, and she secretly hired some men to discreetly guard Leen. She was later very glad that she had done this when one day, one of the men she had hired reported that he had saved Leen from being assaulted.

She mostly let the men she hired look after Leen, but she would occasionally do it herself. One day, she came, dressed in a plain brain robe and hood to the performance space in Darna. She went into an adjacent room to get a drink, and with a start, she recognized one of the patrons as King Eldigan, sword and all! No, Eldigan was long dead, she had been there for the funeral. She then remembered that Eldigan apparently had a young son that he had sent to the Thracian peninsula. This must be him. An inquiry confirmed it.

Sylvia then got it into her head that maybe Leen shouldn't have multiple men looking after her, but just one man of significance. She was old enough. A man of the prince's calibre would surely ensure her daughter's security.

So, sidling up next to him, Sylvia began to question the prince, Ares was his name. At first, he thought she was flirting with him, so he tried to brush her off. Realizing her mistake, Sylvia showed Ares her wedding ring and explained that her intended conversation was meant to leen elsewhere. Accepting this, the two began to talk. Sylvia asked him if he intended to watch the dancers. He responded with a disgusted no. "That kind of revelry is something I refuse to indulge in. The way they look at those women is appalling. How do the girls stand it? They take off most of their clothes and prance around before men who don't give a damn if she is a good person trying to make a living or not. All they care about is her bust size. How can they stand it? Why do they demean themselves that way? I try to think positively about them, think that they have good reasons to do that, and I try to be sympathetic… but then they all flock to me and try to get my attention, and that pretty much kills any notion that I have that they are decent, but oppressed people. Now I generally think they do it just for the attention." he said

"That may be true for any number of them." said Sylvia. "But that is not necessarily true for all of them. I used to be a dancing girl myself. I did it because I liked it. I thought the dances were beautiful… at first. But then things happened, and I got stuck doing it when I didn't want to anymore. It got to the point where I was so habituated to the kind of treatment that you are talking about, I didn't really think about what was proper to wear in public. I was seen as a… you know."

"What changed things for you? You obviously got a happy ending." said Ares

"I wouldn't necessarily call it happy. Sure, my husband and I love each other, but we were forced to give up our children before they got to know us. We live in a world that doesn't allow for happy endings… but my life still is happier now than it was then. That was because of the actions of one man. He called me beautiful to my face, took an interest in my life, and was a friend to me. He helped to lead me out of the life of a street dancer. I wasn't able to secure him as my husband, but it is thanks to him that I met the man who is. Some of these girls, all it would take is one man's kindness to change their lives. Watch the girls dance tonight. Watch how they dance, watch their faces, watch their eyes. Watch for the signs of a lost soul, and make it a found soul. I can guarantee that if you watch the dancers carefully, you'll see at least one who just needs kindness. Even in troupes, you can be lonely." said Sylvia

This made Ares thoughtful. He promised to keep what Sylvia said in mind. So he watched the performance. To Sylvia's joy, after the performance, Ares made a beeline for Leen. She watched their relationship take root, and her heart was filled with hope. Hope that her daughter would find a happy life after all.

 


	3. By The River Thracia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A story detailing the fates of Brigid, Jamke, and Holyn. Written in August of 2018.

By some strange twist of fate, Briggid's suitor question was not answered for her by the Massacre of Belhalla. One would've expected, given the events of that awful day, that one of the two men trying to woo her would have been killed, leaving the other as the victor by default.

But thanks to Dew's foresight and swift actions, that had not happened, and she had escaped with both Jamke and Holyn in tow. This of course begged the question, what now? Yea, by some miracle they had survived and escaped Belhalla, but now they had no choice but to go on the run.

Where could they run to? While Dew's escape route had gathered the survivors in one place, sticking together was the ideal option but not the best option. The Belhalla survivors staying in one big group would attract WAY to much attention and while it would make survival easier for the children and each other easier, it would also make them easier to track. Thus, it would actually make survival harder for everybody involved if they stayed in larger groups.

As much as Briggid loved the idea of helping to track down and raise the children of her sister and close friends… in the end, they were not HER children. As the heir to Jungby, she was a priority target, so she reasoned that while she had plenty of _emotional_ reasons to go to Isaac… she simply did not have enough logical ones to take the risk.

Well, with the option of Isaac eliminated, she wasn't really certain of where else that she could go. So she decided to discuss her options with Jamke and Holyn. These discussions… were ultimately what settled her mind. Not only on where she would go, but on which one of _them_ she would choose to give her heart to.

Jamke was determined to return home to Verdane. Oh, he knew that imperial forces and Loptyr priests would doubtless be waiting for him there, but he did not care. He had been away from his country for far to long, and it was about damn time that he returned to it and gave his people some semblance of hope.

He wasn't outright suicidal. He didn't intend to make his return dramatic. His plan was of the king underground and incognito variety. He was planning a guerilla resistance against the empire.

While Briggid admired his valor and dedication to his people… she feared that he was to optimistic; that his plan gave zero guarantee of their long-term survival. In fact, the way that she saw it, it practically guaranteed that their survival would only be for the short term if they followed through with what he was planning. You know what, it _was_ an outright suicidal plan.

Holyn's ideas, on the other hand, were more realistic and practical in Briggid's mind. His idea was to hide out in Miletos or Thracia, or maybe any of the other nations currently in turmoil due to the empire. They themselves had no particular ties to these nations, and chaos that these nations were in could be used to their advantage in order to hide. They could work as mercenaries, or laborers, or really just about anything that they were capable of, as people of their talents would definitely be needed in these times.

Holyn himself admitted it was a somewhat dangerous proposition, but the whole world was dangerous for them now, and they were all capable. If Briggid found someplace to hide Yewfelle, they should not stand out TO much.

This kind of talk made Briggid ultimately decide to give heart over to Holyn, as she foresaw a life with him lasting longer than a life with Jamke. She did not tell either of them this outright, however. Instead, what she said was "Well, then I guess your mind is made up then, huh Jamke? Holyn… Let's at the very least help him get to Verdane. Once we get there… well, we'll see what we'll do from there." Holyn reluctantly agreed, and so the three of them set off to Verdane together, travelling through the southern countries, getting to Verdane via Miletos.

Briggid's plan was to make hints towards what she had decided during the journey. That way, Jamke at the very least wouldn't be surprised once she finally told him once they got to Verdane.

* * *

But they never got to Verdane. Halfway there, they were caught in an ambush. While they managed to kill all of their assailants, before death one of the assassins got a lucky shot in and hit Jamke in the back, lethally wounding him. Holyn stood to the side respectfully as Briggid went to the dying Jamke.

Not wanting him to die believing falsehoods, but knowing that it would undoubtedly hurt both of them. She admitted to him then her true feelings; what she had decided and why. She apologized to him for rejecting him and for "leading him on".

"No… don't say that. Based on what… you just said, you were… genuinely interested until… my own passions and actions… drove you away." said Jamke. "Doesn't count… as leading… I made the mistake… again. That can be my epitaph… made to many mistakes… to get the girl or be king-" and with that, to much blood filled his lungs and he lost the ability to speak. He passed a minute later.

They buried Jamke there, and then wandered about a bit before finding an abandoned house to stay the night in. Holyn tried to give Briggid his condolences, thinking what had passed between the two of them had been a love confession… but Briggid corrected him. She told him the truth. That by the time Jamke had died, she had already chosen _him_ , and that she had been forced to admit it to Jamke when he died.

"…Are you serious?" asked Holyn once he could speak. Briggid nodded through tear streaked eyes. Holyn's first instinct was to lean in and kiss her…. but then he thought that maybe that wasn't the appropriate response. Instead, after a moment of hesitation he said. "Well then… You've got me. What do you want me to do? I'll do it." Briggid looked at him, a hungry look in her eyes.

* * *

This pretty much set the tone for their relationship. It worked out pretty well for him. Faval was born within a year of this event, and Patty about a year after that. Both parents were glad to have them, however, they did make life a bit more challenging for them, especially for those first couple of years. They couldn't trust just anybody to look after their children while they were away. They couldn't trust that when they came back, their children would be there.

They had not actually left Miletos after Jamke had died, so Faval and Patty were actually born in that country. What made them leave was that Granville solidified its takeover of the district and put Hilda in charge. Holyn and Briggid were both street savvy people, and it didn't take them long to realize that with Hilda in charge of Miletos, they couldn't even pretend that their children could be safe, even if one of them stayed at home at all times.

So, before the Hilda regime could get a chance to fully settle down and sink its claws firmly into Miletos, the blonde family of mercenaries moved to the Thracian Peninsula.

While searching for a place to live, they came across a struggling orphanage. Briggid's heart went out to those who ran the place, but she wasn't sure about what she could do to help when they had their own problems to worry about. But then, Holyn struck upon an idea.

They could work for the orphanage, channeling the money that they made as mercenaries into the orphanage. In exchange, they could have a place to live and a place for their children to grow up if the worst happened. The orphanage directors readily accepted the deal.

Briggid stashed away the Yewfelle in a hidden compartment with one trustworthy witness watching, telling her that it was for her son to use when he got older, because she couldn't use it any more.

So they lived as benefactors for the orphanage for the next few years. Briggid stuck to using regular bows and even got some sword training and changed up her hairstyle. Meanwhile Holyn dyed his hair regularly and suggested that Briggid do the same, but she refused. Maybe it was due to that refusal and her continued use of bows that they were eventually recognized and cornered.

They never found out how they were tracked, but it wasn't through the orphanage, it was through reputation and contract. One of their contracts had the caveat that they had to meet their employer on a bluff overlooking the River Thracia. The empire had finally managed to track Briggid, and they found out about this meeting, and so they took the opportunity to interrupt.

Since their employer wasn't the one who set the trap, and he did not have an inkling of the trap, Briggid and Holyn were caught completely off guard in the middle of their meeting. All of them were equally shocked to find themselves suddenly surrounded.

The soldiers parted to reveal a heavily scarred Loptyr priest. "Ah, it seems that we can now check off another two of Sigurd's nuisances off of the list. Hmm… let's see, you're definitely the Jungby heir, and you… hmmm, you seem familiar, but something is throwing me off. Remind me, were you anybody important?" he asked Holyn.

"Does it matter?" growled Holyn

"I suppose not." said the priest, shrugging. "Kill them. Kill them all. We can sort out the two men later."

The enemy advanced and Briggid and Holyn readied their weapons. Their would-be employer panicked and instead of doing the smart thing and getting behind them, he tried to run. This resulted in him getting killed almost immediately. Briggid and Holyn, meanwhile, held their ground successfully. Holyn told her to cover his back while he advanced on the priest.

"I should've known that I'd have to do this myself." muttered the priest, and he began casting spells at Holyn while he stood at a distance.

"Seriously? Is that all you can do?" called out Holyn as he dodged and took down any knights who stood in his way "Why can't you Loptyr priests try any knew tricks?"

The priest sighed as he ducked away from one of Briggid's arrows. "A valid criticism. As a whole, the Loptyr sect relies on tradition and old values and three basic spells…"

Holyn came in close and leaped at the priest. His sword's decent was suddenly stopped, however, by a purple bubble that materialized around the priest's body "I, on the other hand, am I actually taking this opportunity to test run a few things." said the priest smugly. He suddenly grabbed Holyn's hands at the point where they were gripping his sword. A burning sensation forced him to drop his sword.

The priest pulled his right arm back and a purple aura surrounded it, taking the shape of a sword. He quickly thrust it into Holyn's stomach. Briggid screamed Holyn's name and began firing arrows rapid fire at the priest, but they simply bounced off the bubble. "I guess that these are keepers." said the priest, grinning maniacally, driving the sword deeper.

Briggid roared in grief and frustration and tried to strike him with her bow. The priest dodged, then he threw Holyn's body on top of her. "There. Say your goodbyes while I decide how to finish you off." redirecting his attention to his arm he muttered "Now, I should get some more variety out of this attack. I wonder how big a weapon I can create that would still be practical."

The purple sword shimmered and morphed and expanded until it turned into a gigantic hammer. The priest whistled in awe, then looked up to see Briggid charging at him and almost on top of him. Hardly thinking about what he was doing, he swung with his hammer arm.

He struck her across her right temple and sent her flying. Upon hitting the ground, her quiver shattered, spilling its contents across the ground. She also dropped her bow in the process.

But her journey didn't end there, because she _bounced_ all the way to the cliff's edge. Still conscious, she tried to crawl, but the ledge she had landed on was to fragile, and it collapsed, sending her tumbling her head over heels into the River Thracia below.

She struggled to the surface and began to float. Even in her injured, exhausted, and grief-stricken state, she was still thinking of a way to get out of the river and back to her children. Then, she heard a loud noise. She looked downriver. "OH **FUCK**. The rapids." were her last thoughts before she was swept into the current and into their midst.

At one point, she thought that she could stand up and grab a large rock jutting out from the shore. But when she tried this, she felt her legs hit something solid and snap. She was then dragged under water and then under a rock. The last thing that she felt other than the sensation of drowning and darkness overwhelming her was the feeling of her holy mark burning.

Her holy mark was burning in a fashion similar to how it had always felt whenever the Yewfelle had been about to heal her…

 


	4. For Whom A Heart Was Made Firm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter about Dew, Lex, and Ayra. Written in December of 2018.

"That's the best that I can do." said the healer with finality as he removed the bandages for the final time. "The rest, from her on out, is up to you."

"So I guess that's it, huh." said Ayra bitterly. "I'm stuck the rest of my life with one arm, Defenseless and helpless. That's just great!" she shouted, throwing her finished drinking glass against the wall. She watched the remnants of liquid slowly leak down the wall with tears welling in her eyes.

The healer moved towards the two men who were in the room with her, and spoke to them in a low voice. "I don't know if you want to encourage this, but I've heard of rare cases of people with only one arm who've maintained the ability to fight. If you want, you can convince her that she can be one of those rare cases. I don't know if you'll actually succeed, but hopefully it will prevent her from going into a suicidal depression and give her a reason to keep moving."

Lex and Dew both gave him a strange look, then they looked at one another as the healer left the room. "Well, I know that you think that this is your big chance to be the stronger spouse, but I'm not going to let Ayra be stuck like this if I can help it." declared Lex.

"Since when am I a misogynist? Don't make assumptions just because you're jealous and don't like me, Lex." retorted Dew. "I hate seeing her like this just as much as you do."

"Then why didn't you prevent this?" questioned Lex.

Dew looked not only hurt, but angry. Like he was ready to slap Lex as hard as he could. "Did you just… did you really just go there? Goddamit Lex, are you calling me out for not preventing Belhalla?! Screw you! You were with me, you were with me and I didn't see you doing a better job at preventing it! The hell Lex?! What the hell?!"

"…you're right, that was a low blow, and it demeans our friends who died." admitted Lex, rubbing his face. "Fine, I'll drop it. I'll even listen to you, so… what's the plan now? Do you have one?"

"Yea, I've got one. First of all, we get Ayra back on her feet." declared Dew. "Then we see if we can get her adjusted to living and fighting with one arm. Like the healer said, it can be done, I've seen it, but…"

"But…" said Lex.

"The cases that I've seen… well, from what I remember, not the _entire_ limb was gone, figuring out a workaround for that is going to be tricky." confessed Dew.

"Plus, isn't Ayra right handed? It's her right arm that's missing." pontificated Lex

"Actually, she's ambidextrous. Come on, you should know that. You've seen her dual wield before. That's why I'm so confident that we can help her recuperate. Honestly? I think that once we convince her that she isn't useless, she'll be bck on her feet and kicking ass rather quickly."

Lex considered this for a moment "Ok. I'll buy that. So… what do we do once she recovers? We can't jut sit here."

"We go into Isaac and search for the kids." said Dew plainly. "You come with us. I don't like you, and you don't like me, but you can be useful. It's your brother who is using the country as a stomping ground after all, and you know what he is like."

He shrugged his shoulders "I don't pretend to know what your relationship with him is like and what kind of clout you'll still have with those loyal to Dozel, but you ARE a man of good character, and you are a former lord of Dozel, and I'd like to think that that may still count for SOMETHING."

He crossed his arms and raised a finger "I'm hoping, in the best case scenario, that it'll translate into some for of safety for our kids if you come along. Even if your former title does nothing… I'm not about to doubt your battle prowess. You'll be useful, at the very least, in some capacity."

"…Fine. I'm convinced. Didn't need much, since I needed to make sure that you'd treat her right, but that just adds extra motivation." declared Lex.

Unbeknownst to either of them, they weren't talking as quietly as they thought, and Ayra could overhear them. She had her eyes closed and she was taking this all in. "Wow, he's become quite the strategist. I could've chosen much worse." she though concerning her husband.

"He's right. I can't just sit on my ass feeling sorry for myself. Larcei and Ulster need me. I need to recover and get back to Isaac as soon as possible. For their sakes."

* * *

Ayra was filled with a new determination. She picked up her sword once more with her remaining arm and went about training so that she could fight single handedly. Dew served as her partner at first, as he was smaller and lighter, and thus couldn't put as much weight into his attacks. Eventually, she improved and was able to best him consistently.

That's when Lex tapped in so that she could get used to fighting larger, stronger opponents. Eventually, they found that she was capable of besting him as well, despite her handicap. Due to the confidence boost that this granted them, they decided to make their way through Isaac as soon as possible.

Lex and Dew bickered the entire way. This gave Ayra cause to reflect on her life choices. After all, the two should've been friends, but it was her fault that they were bitter rivals. She definitely had regrets.

It's true that she hadn't been in the best mental or emotional state in the wake of Isaac's fall, but that did not excuse leading two well meaning suitors on, only to turn around and seduce a young teenager, someone who was really only a man via technicality.

She knew what she had done was wrong, and had even admitted her wrongdoing to Lex, but he was blinded by his love for her, especially since she was clearly remorseful for her actions and he refused to believe that the responsibility for her vile actions lay on her. He placed all the blame for them on Dew. She hated this, but she had no idea what she could say to set this right.

As for Dew himself… his case was interesting. He was young, but he wasn't an idiot, she knew that full well. At the same time, however, she just couldn't tell whether or not he knew that he'd been used. She'd seen signs of both his ignorance and his knowledge, so… she had no idea what to say to him either.

One thing was for certain though, Dew had done everything in his power to earn the titles "man" and "father" for himself. She was sick with postpartum and an unknown illness after the birth. Dew had really gone out of his way to take care of the twins during that time, and even afterwards, he was their primary caretaker.

Lex had been the man she had really loved, and had planned to ditch Dew for him before she found out that she was pregnant. But now… she couldn't abandon him or split away from him in any fashion after witnessing that.

She had to be a mother for her kids, and it would be wrong to separate them from such a spectacular father, or to have them raised separately, they'd be biased towards one parent or the other.

It didn't matter anyways. She didn't want to consider splitting from Dew anymore. After all this time with him… for Dew, for all he had done, for him, her heart had been made firm.

* * *

By the time Ayra had made a full recovery, Danan had had enough time to consolidate his power. Since it was the beginning of his reign, he had a rather firm grip on the land, especially around the borders. Thus, while the trio's entry into the country was not prevented, it was detected.

As a result, Danan was very much aware that his hated brother had arrived in the country. He was going to have to do something about that. He was going to set a trap. He knew full well that some of the soldiers serving Dozel favored Lex, and that Lex was aware of this as well.

So, Danan sent out soldiers as spies. Soldiers he knew that Lex knew of who had leanings towards him, but whom Danan had full confidence would remain loyal to the empire, even if it meant betraying their favored lord. His brother would simply be "captured" and be "held" as a "political prisoner" of course. Traitor or not, why would he wish death on his own brother?

It was a rather blunt and nervous man by the name of Bolgi who ultimately sold the trio out. His actions would later be justly reward years down the line while Danan was in a rage about his sons' confrontation with Seliph's Liberation Army.

* * *

Dew, Ayra, and Lex were caught in a pincer maneuver and were forced into making their last stand in an old, decrepit fortress. Danan sent in five waves of soldiers before entering himself. This was a genuinely smart move on his part, because while this wore his enemies down, most of his men were dead by the time that he entered.

Just as he entered, Lex was on the second floor, swinging wildly and hacking his way through the enemy. One particularly powerful blow sent a soldier through the guardrail and down to the first floor.

However, his Brave Axe accidentally got wedged in the man's armor, and the man toppled with it still lodged in his chest, and landed only a couple of meters away from Danan.

Lex, immediately noticing and recognizing the terrible danger, threw a hand axe at him in order to keep him at bay, then jumped down in order to retrieve it. He miscalculated the distance, however, and didn't land quite close enough and didn't quite stick the landing either and injured himself in the process.

Danan rammed him with his shoulder, making Lex topple over, then he pulled the Brave Axe out of the man's corpse. "You seem especially determined to keep this out of my hands. Is there a particular reason for that?" asked Danan.

"Yea… sentimental crap you wouldn't understand. The conditions I got it under… it was kinda weird, and I don't think that you'll believe me, so let's just say that I got it via a test of virtue. I wanna keep it cause that's something I can hold over you and dad, virtue is something that neither of you cared for." claimed Lex.

Danan shrugged "You're right. Who needs virtue? All it does is cost you the good things in life." he said, hooking the axe on his belt and drawing his own blade "Like you. You joined Sigurd's rebellion out of 'virtue', correct? Well, now it's going to cost you your life."

"You sure that you want to do this, Danan? You know how tough I am." said Lex.

"True, you're made of iron, but it's dented, while mine is freshly mended. Draw your spare, and let's settle this." declared Danan.

So Lex did, and the brothers dueled while Ayra and Dew continued to fend off Dozel soldiers in the background. Lex was at a disadvantage here. He was tired, Danan had his favored weapon, and he had injured his legs making that leap earlier.

He kept trying to rectify the second problem by repeatedly reaching for it in the middle of the fight, but Danan kept note, and kept it out of reach. This made him suspect, however, that there was much more to it than sentimental value as Lex's reaches seemed to desperate.

So he exchanged blades on the fly and almost immediately landed a solid hit on Lex. "Huh, I can see why you like this axe so much." commented Danan. "Wait… is this a Brave Axe?!" he exclaimed as he examined it and realization dawned on him. A smug grin spread across his face. In that moment, he had decided to finish Lex off with his own weapon.

Lex fought as best as he could, but hit after hit landed, and at last, it became to much, and he collapsed to the floor. Danan rolled him over, laughing "Who's superior now, Lex? At long last, things are as they should be. Finally, I WIN!" he cried, and he brought the axe down savagely upon Lex's head.

This caught Ayra's complete attention, and she froze and shouted her dismay. This gave an enemy soldier the opportunity to slash her across the back. She practically decapitated him in retaliation.

Danan turned his attention to her. He tilted his head "Mariccle's sister, I take it? So, you finally show yourself, and…" he stared at her missing limb "I see that Odo's warrior spirit didn't pass over you in the slightest. Killing you is going to be quite interesting."

Ayra gritted her teeth and raised her blade "Yea? Well, you're going to find that that won't be as simple a task as you think." Danan grinned maniacally and spun the Brave Axe, advancing towards her. Then Dew leapt out of concealment and slashed him down the length of his back.

He rolled, and used his wind sword in order to propel himself away. "Now I'd say that we're about even." declared Ayra. And the husband and wife duo tag teamed Danan.

Dew served as the distraction and did minor damage while all the serious attacks came from Ayra. But as Danan got desperate, he finally figured out their pattern, and he managed to seize Dew by the neck with his free hand while he was trying to duck out of the way.

Danan used him to batter Ayra out of the way, then slammed him into a pillar. Then he peeled him off, spun about, and tossed Dew as hard as he could across the room.

Ayra ran to him "Dew! Are you alright?!" she cried as he picked himself off the floor, spitting up blood.

"I… I can still fight!" he declared. The fact that he immediately collapsed as he then tried to get up proved that no, he could not in fact fight. Ayra gave him a long, pained look.

She wrapped her hand around his fingers "I don't think that I ever told you this, but I always through that you were a highly admirable father. A much better parent than me, anyways. Keep giving that same love and care to the twins for me, OK?" she said, removing her hand.

Dew suddenly found that there was an active Return ring on his finger "Wait, how did you?!" he cried, as he warped away he screamed "AYRA!" at the top of his lungs.

Ayra turned back to face Danan with a glare. "How noble and virtuous of you. Like I told my late brother, all that virtue will do is cost you." he said. Ayra cried out in pain as she found a throwing axe buried in her thigh. She forced it out as quickly as she could as Danan rushed her.

Danan struck down with his axe with all of his might, then put all of his weight behind it, pushing Ayra to her knees, and forcing her own blade nearer and nearer to her own body.

Filled with determination, she steadied her footing, pivoted to the left and slashed Danan's side. He lashed out wildly, and managed to nick her neck. She managed to retaliate with a shoulder wound.

And so their deadly dance continued. Danan probably would've been in true danger had Ayra retained both her, arms, wasn't injured, and wasn't exhausted. As it was, they were essentially on even footing for the duration of the fight.

Eventually, Danan backed Ayra into a literal corner. Trying to take advantage of her surroundings, she backed up, pushed herself off the wall, and tried to leap over Danan. He grabbed her by the waist, lifted up his knee, and slammed her down back first into it.

A loud cracking sound was heard and she fell to the ground, spitting blood. She tried to lift her sword in order to defend, but Danan kicked her flat on her back and buried his axe in her shoulder. "Any final remarks?" he asked.

"Shanan… Larcei, Ulster, Seliph. The fate of Isaac is in your hands now. And Dew, I apologize... for how I used you wrong. My heart was firm for you in the end."

"Hmm." grunted Danan, frowning and shrugging his shoulders. Then the axe came down, brutal and swift.

 


	5. Forbidden Fruit and Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fate of Midir. The first chapter posted simultaneously with FF.net.

Midir WAS a nobleman. In the loosest sense of the word. The validity of his bloodline was...highly disputed. His mother was a noblewoman of the Edda court who married a knight of Jungby. Whether this man was actually Midir's father, however, was a matter of much debate.

Around the time that he was conceived, a common criminal from Chalphy was trying to escape to Verdane, and was corned in the Jungby castle town. He was eventually captured, but not before he had assaulted Midir's mother. Soon thereafter, her pregnancy was announced. The timing made many wonder if the criminal was the child's true father. It didn't help that the criminal liked to boast that he'd had his way with her before being captured.

To his credit, her husband vigorously denied it, claiming that the child was his and fighting tooth and nail for his wife's reputation and honor. He claimed that his wife had fought off her attacker as best as she could, and that it had bought enough time for someone to come to her aid and defend her honor at the last minute, and that the criminal was just trying to attain a claim to fame.

According to him, in the aftermath of this terrible scare, he and his wife were brought closer together than ever before, and that was why the baby was arriving so soon after this terrible incident.

Of course, opinions were divided on whether that was actually the truth or not. It didn't help that neither sides were satisfied when Midir was actually born. He primarily resembled his mother, and he actually bore traits of BOTH of his potential fathers, so there was no immediately obvious, satisfactory answer to who his father was. Debaters never got a satisfactory answer.

Thus Midir's position as a court nobleman was always shaky at best, even though his manners and good looks caught the eye of many. That is why he dedicated his life to being a knight. He did not actually care who his biological father was, he perceived the man who raised him as his father, but he could feel the trouble in the air caused by the lingering question. It bothered enough people in power, so in Midir's mind, the mere existence of such a question rendered his noble status null and void. Thus he wanted to be somewhere where he could earn respect and status through his actions, and the question would not matter as much.

* * *

It took quite a while for Adean and Midir to properly meet, despite the Jungby court being relatively small. They were both teenagers when they met for the first time. When he did meet her in person for the first time, however, he immediately found his breath had been taken away and that his heart had skipped a beat. "So this is what all the fuss is about... she has certainly earned her reputation... stay heart, don't dwell on it, she's not to be yours." he told himself.

Unbeknownst to Midir, Adean's reaction upon meeting him for the first time was practically identical.

And so began a trying dynamic. Midir quickly became her favorite knight, and he lived to serve. As a result their initial thunderstruck reactions had time to develop. It soon turned into a general affection for one another, and after many years, it became a genuine love on both accounts. However, neither could confront it.

As stated previously, Midir did not believe in his status. He believed that if he even attempted to court her, or that if his feelings were ever to be brought forward to Lord Ring, then the lord of Jungby would put their relationship to a sudden, harsh, and brutal end. Midir would be stripped of his knighthood and banished from Jungby.

Adean also feared the same of her father, so she never tried to pressure Midir or try to give him hints, and went along with it when other suitors came forth. As a result, the two became one another's forbidden fruit, as they believed that they could never partake of one another.

Their fear of Lord Ring did have some justification. So overprotective was Lord Ring, that he actually forced his daughter to wear a chastity belt of all things. An obviously overzealous action, as she was a woman of the cloth and not the promiscuous sort. Annoyed, and having decided to get some satisfaction out of subverting her father's will, Adean actually had a duplicate key made in secret. She actually had the gall to give the duplicate to Midir for safekeeping.

Of course, she never told him what it was, only telling him that it was something very important, and that he could never let anyone know that he had it. Midir always assumed that it belonged to some super secret safe that held priceless family possessions. Thus, he always kept it on his person so as not to lose it. When he was ultimately told what it was, he went utterly crimson.

Regardless, Ring's overprotective nature wound up working in Adean's favor in the long run. Namely, when Prince Gandolf dragged her all the way from Jungby to Marpha. Upon arrival he quickly found that he could not have his way with her as he had planned. When she refused his initial "proposal", he tried to force the issue, figuring that in her humiliation, she'd agree to it, since after that he'd be the "only man" who'd take her after that. Then when he tried it, he discovered that he couldn't use that tactic.

Pissed, he threw her in the dungeon in order to "consider her options", really just an excuse while he tried to figure out his own options.

He tried to convince Dew to help him, promising him his freedom and great rewards, but Dew never even considered it. He may have been an incorrigible thief, but there was no way in hell he was going to aid and abed in the tarnishing of a maiden's honor. He was lucky that Jamke was present, or else his life would've ended right there. Dew's declaration of morality ended up being a key deciding factor in Jamke's decision of Adean's request for his freedom.

* * *

Adean and Midir's reactions to seeing one another again informed the other that their feelings were reciprocated. Despite this knowledge, neither acted on it, for both still feared the wrath of Lord Ring. Then came the news of his murder. While both were deeply grieved by the news, it was also liberating for the two. Ring was dead and branded a traitor. They were officially branded traitors and rendered exiles from their homeland. Their status meant absolutely nothing anymore.

Midir quickly realized that most of Adean's mourning was either done in Brigid's arms or his. A mere two weeks after the news had reached them and they had moved to Silesse, Adean confessed.

Thus they entered a weird stage in their relationship. They were clearly a couple, but they weren't officially courting because they were still technically mourning for Lord Ring. Everyone took note of it. A couple of weeks after the end of the usual mourning period, their friends and Brigid came to them with a recommendation. After much consideration and soul searching, they decided to follow their advice.

And so they were married, without ever having had an official courtship or engagement. For everyone said that they clearly would make a lasting couple, and that they'd spent long enough waiting to come together. Finally, they had their forbidden fruit.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, it did not take very long for Lester to be conceived. Adean and Midir could not escape the jokes and wisecracks made at their expense, either about him coming so soon or about him not coming sooner. They just couldn't win. Regardless of the endless teasing he caused his parents, Lester was an absolute joy for them. By the time that their exile in Silesse ended, they were already ready to have another.

Lana was conceived before Belhalla, but born in its wake. Adean was eternally grateful to Dew for the fact that Midir was there to see her come into the world. Frankly, Lana was lucky to have been born at all, as both of her parents had insisted on going all the way to Belhalla with Sigurd, despite knowing the risks.

When everyone went their separate ways after the Massacre, Midir and Adean immediately ventured into Isaac and were thus, quickly able to locate Shanan, Oifey, and the children. (Because of their swift movement, they were able to avoid meeting the same fates as Lex and Ayra).

And so they all lived together in Isaac. For now, Midir was the father figure, and Oifey and Shanan were the uncles. As the years went by, the hunt for them died down slightly and they were able to find a relative safe haven. That is how the happy couple let their guard down and accidentally conceived a third child long after all the other children ceased to be toddlers.

Midir wanted to do something special for this little one, to celebrate its coming into the world. That is how he came up with his fatal idea.

There was a special kind of flower that grew only in Jungby territory, nicknamed the Cupid's Heart. Its petals were predominately red, with streaks of blue interlaced throughout the petals. Each petal was vaguely heart shaped, and had a noticeable shaft protruding from the center at an angle (hence the name). It was widely seen as a very romantic bloom, and was often involved in proposals and weddings.

Midir figured that since it had been so many years, the hunt and the lookout for them wouldn't be as rigorous, especially if it was just one man. He felth that they were relatively safe where they were now. So, he decided that, in order to celebrate the new baby, he'd go all the way to Jungby, collect some flowers (and some seeds, and maybe a perfume or a scent based off of it) and return home with a gift from home for his beloved wife.

He told Oifey and Shanan what he was doing, and swore them to secrecy, ignoring their protests, and he left.

He did collect his gift without incident, but he never returned with it. For what he never accounted for was the sheer amount of hatred that Scipio held for his family.

As a boy, he had been traveling with his father as he hunted down the "traitor" Lord Byron. As a result, he bore witness to his father's "murder" at the hands of his Aunt Brigid. The experience did a number on his sanity, and he developed an obsession with the destruction of his relatives. Thus, he was _always_ on guard for their return. Thus he found out rather quickly that his uncle by marriage was in Jungby.

His first instinct was to slaughter him, but then he thought again. The Loptyrian priest Veld was paying a visit to Jungby, and he had access to the Stone spell, a tome that left the victims alive, but rendered their bodies inert statues. A living hell, a much better punishment that the escape of death, he decided. And so he requested Veld's assistance in this manner. An assistance he gladly provided.

* * *

Just as Midir was about to cross the border and leave Jungby territory, he heard a voice "leaving so soon, uncle? Why? We have so much to talk about, such as the murder of my father for instance, or the location of the other traitors." Midir drew his weapon and spun around. "Veld!" shouted Scipio.

Midir fired an arrow and missed just as he was struck by the spell. "Is that all? I can still fight." he declared, and drew another arrow. It was halfway out the shaft when the spell finished its work and he was frozen mid-attack, horse, gifts, half fired weapon and all.

"My, what a dynamic pose. You know, I think that it looks to good to be hidden away. I think that such a piece should be put on display. AH! You know how we've been needing a replacement archer statue for the inner archway for our school of archery? Why commission a new one? I think we've got the perfect replacement right here." declared Scipio.

And so, Midir was placed on a pedestal, high up in the inner entryway to Jungby's school of archery. There he still sits, waiting for rescue...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Midir's origins were made actually made up on the fly, but I thought they fit the familial theme that seems to be going on already. We know that Adean was assaulted/kidnapped by Gandolf. Lester got together with Laylea in Crusaders Reborn, who was assaulted by Bramsel in a worse way. So I figured, why not make it a family trait. Midir's final fate, on the other hand, has been planned for years. The Cupid's Heart is made up for the story, BTW. If it sounds like a real bloom, it's entirely by chance. I didn't actually Google anything this time.
> 
> So, my current profile pic displays the choices I made with My Nintendo account for CYL3... though it turns out that I influenced that poll more than I thought. I asked my best friend to vote, and vote for characters not in the game. He's a fan of the Radiant games, so he voted for Ranulf. I assumed a grand total of once. Nope, according to him, he used like, seven browsers a day, and also asked HIS friends to vote for Ranulf too. Apparently he really likes Ranulf. So I think that Ranulf may have beaten Lilina in the poll because of me. Oops.


	6. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lives and fates of Azel and Tailtu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. Just three more to go until I (finally) finish this ongoing. I honestly thought the latter part would be better... but I am genuinely pleased with how the first couple of bits turned out. Azel's narrative about his opinion of his father turned out almost perfectly/exactly as I wanted in my opinion, something that is VERY difficult to achieve. It's something I've wanted to write on for QUITE some time. As always, comments are appreciated. I hope that you guys enjoy.

 

In their younger years, they never thought that they would become a part of the old cliché, that childhood friends with opposing personalities would become lovers with time. If someone had told Azel and Tailtu in their younger years that they would work as a romantic couple, they would not have believed the one who told them. But work they did, in the end. But first, they had to work their way through some very deep emotional scars.

* * *

They entered into their exile in Silesse in very different states of mind. Azel was growing to accept the fact that he would never have his long idolized Lady Adean. He was watching her come together with the man whom she truly loved and... he found that he didn't begrudge him her love. He eventually accepted it with a quiet grace, even volunteering to be the best man at their wedding.

Azel had always been melancholy at his best, emotionally fragile at worst. But his time away from home had taught him how to temper those emotions and live a more stable life. He was still reserved, but it was less of the "shy" sort of reserved, and more of the "always thoughtful" sort of reserved.

The man whom Tailtu encountered in northern Augustria was not the man whom she had been expecting to find, the boy whom she had grown up with. He did not respond to her teasing like he used to. When she brought up his crush on Lady Adean, instead of blushing furiously and denying it, he simply shook his head and said "our relationship is not like that, Tailtu. And it never will be." This caught her off guard, so she tried following up on it with similar comments that used to rile him up. Instead of getting upset, he simply gave her a look, shook his head, and continued his business. This became a recurring trend, not a one time deal, so she soon realized that this was a permanent change.

She didn't like it. She had always teased him for acting childish, but now... here he was acting like a proper adult, while she maintained the same behavior that she had always displayed. It made her uncomfortable. It made her feel like _she_ was the childish one. So she increased her attempts to try and get Father Claud's attention. But he simply was not interested in her, that became clear rather quickly, and over time, she had to watch as his interest was captured by a dancer even younger than her.

The revelation of what Duke Reptor had done and of how he had used her flight of fancy to fuel his false narrative in order to discredit Father Claud only served to fuel her self-pity and self-disparaging behavior. It made her even more critical of her own actions and view them as childish.

After settling in Silesse, she stopped hanging around Claud, and she started wallowing around Azel instead. She began to appreciate how much he had grown, and she began to remember all of the positive storybook romantic clichés about childhood friends and people with opposite personalities, and she began to wonder if they could work for her. Thus, in an attempt to stave off her guilt and loneliness, and in an attempt to make herself look like an "adult", she began to make advances on Azel.

Azel... had mixed feelings about that. He surprised himself when he realized that he didn't outright view it as unpleasant or as something that needed to be stopped immediately. He had always liked her despite her bullying tendencies, but he had never considered that he liked her this way... It was a bit hard for him to swallow that he was open to this kind of relationship with his childhood friend. Especially since, despite the fact he had loved Lady Adean for many years... he had never been able to imagine himself in an intimate relationship with her, yet now he was discovering that he WAS able to imagine such a relationship with Tailtu. It was a rather... disconcerting thing to discover about oneself, to say the least.

How he felt, however, didn't matter, because no matter how conflicted he felt about the idea, there was one thing about the whole thing that he felt for certain. That he couldn't act on it. Azel was smart enough to realize why Tailtu had been behaving in that manner. He couldn't take advantage of her like that. There were several reasons why, some of them were personal.

But how to explain this to her? He'd seen how Lachesis had reacted when Finn had tried to turn her down firmly but gently. That had not turned out well at ALL. He didn't want to cause a similar situation with Tailtu. He didn't want to send her running to... say, Alec. So, he held his tongue for the time being and he allowed her to exhaust herself with her flirtations.

* * *

One day, he was heading towards Silesse (the city), on an errand. Tailtu decided to tag along. On their way, they had to spend the night in a small cave. It was cold and she wasn't dressed warmly enough, so she tried snuggling up to him for warmth. He reacted a bit more harshly than he really should've. This finally caused her to snap. She started to shout at him and flail her arms around. During the ensuing shouting spree, she ended up accidentally launching a thunderbolt at the cave entrance, sealing them in.

Since they were now trapped together for the foreseeable future, they were now forced to be in close quarters and talk things over. Of course, things got worse before they got better. After they were trapped for a couple hours, Tailtu was absolutely desperate for heat, and she outright tried to force herself on him just so she could get some body heat. He had to physically throw her off. After that, her demeanor grew cold and she looked away from him. "So... you'd let me freeze, then. No, it's more than that, you'd do this even if we weren't in this situation, you've made that clear. Why? Am I just not good enough for you? Is that it? You don't... you don't want to dirty yourself with the girl who ruined everyone's lives, do you? That's it, isn't it? I didn't mean too..." she said quietly, teardrops dripping down her cheeks.

"I just... I just didn't realize how far reaching my father's jealousy was, and the lengths that he would go to. How was I supposed to know? If I know I wouldn't have run after... I mean, I wouldn't have offered... oh, it was just an infatuation, it should've been harmless! How was I supposed to know that by chasing Father Claud that I'd be ruining our last chance of settling things peacefully? Why would I ever think that?" she moaned. Now she was visibly trembling, and tears were flowing freely.

"Oh gods... I've been denying it this whole time, but... after all these years calling YOU childish, it turns out that I'm the childish one. Now I'm trying to take the easy route to look like an adult. No wonder you hate me." she said, curling up into a fetal position.

Finally, Azel reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "None of that is the reason that I keep rejecting your advances, Tailtu. I keep turning you down because of... personal reasons. Emotional reasons."

She ceased her crying and stared at him. He sighed and elaborated. "At first... I was taken off guard by the fact that you had taken a sudden interest in me. I had never considered that we could ever HAVE that sort of relationship. But... I have considered it now, and... I'll be honest with you, I've realized that I'm actually open to it. I think that something between us COULD work. BUT. It can't work now. Not while you are like this, not while you're in your current state of mind." explained Azel.

He sighed "You've given me the impression that it's not actually a relationship that you're looking for, but an escape. You intend to hide from your problems by using a lover's arms as a shield. I can understand that mentality, but I refuse to be used in that way, and well... if I go with it, knowing that, I feel like I'd just be using you. And after all we've been through together, out of all the crummy things that we've done to one another. I think that going along with what you want now while knowing what's truly going on would be the worst thing that I've ever done to you. It would be the worst thing we've ever done to one another. We would be no better than our fathers."

_"Our_ fathers?" whispered Tailtu.

Azel studied her for a few moments, then closed his eyes. Then he took a deep breath and opened them again. Tailtu, I don't need to tell you what's wrong with your father, I'm sure that you've done nothing but angst over his actions since we left Augustria. But... have you ever considered how I feel about _my_ father?" he looked at her. She was quiet, but she had stopped crying, and she was staring at him, and it was clear that he had her full attention.

"Victor... was an utterly selfish, despicable man who happily used woman for his own ends. You know this, but I'm going to reiterate it because it's important. He conceived me when he _raped_ his wife's favorite maid while he was drunk, then tried to have us thrown out in order to avoid responsibility. That shadow... that demon, has always loomed over my head. It has always been my life's goal to be _nothing_ like him. If I were ever lucky enough to find a wife, she would be the one and only woman I ever had, and we'd only be intimate **after** we were married. Any children that I had, would under no circumstances, would be considered a bastard. I don't want to make another me, there are to many of me in the world as it is..." he said quietly.

"You say that you want a relationship, but you CLEARLY aren't in your right state of mind. If I take advantage of that. If I put aside my morals, even for one night and, heaven forbid I become a father because of that... then I'll have failed at my only goal in life. I'll be just like Victor, except I would have a better excuse. Mental instability brought on by trauma rather than liquor."

"...Why didn't you ever tell me?" Tailtu managed to gasp out.

"I was afraid." admitted Azel. "That's not an easy thing to admit. Besides, I witnessed a... similar situation go horribly wrong relatively recently. Lady Lachesis was... steadily falling in love with Lord Quan's knight, Finn. Then, her brother died and, in her grief... she tried to seduce Finn. She was trying to escape from her misery, as you are. But like me, he refused to take the bait, because he could read the warning signs and he knew that she wasn't in her proper state of mind. But... he refused her outright. Firmly, and he spelled out his reasons. In public too. She reacted... violently... and terminated their relationship. She... You've seen her as she is now, she is now awaiting the birth of another man's child. A man that I know for certain that she doesn't truly love. That's why I never responded to your advances. I didn't want to cause a repeat."

"...Do you really think that I would pull the same stunt?" she asked. She wasn't angry, it was in the tone of a genuine question, like she didn't actually know the answer to it.

"You've been trying to get into my bed, haven't you?" responded Azel. Tailtu curled up and contemplated what she had just been told. Azel sat next to her and put his arms around her, and used a passive ability inherent to those with Velthomer blood to try to keep her warm while she thought.

* * *

It took another two and a half days for them to be located and rescued. When they returned, everyone noticed a change in the air between them. Upon learning of the conditions that they had been trapped in, Lex took a guess at their survival method and began to prod Azel about it. "You lucky bastard. Here I was thinking that you'd never have the spine to get yourself a girl, but look at you, you actually managed to get it on with one before I did. I never would've thought that it would've turned out this way you lucky DOG you!" he declared, rubbing Azel's hair.

All this did was set him off "Lex! What the HELL are you getting on about? There is nothing exciting about this scenario at all!" Azel snapped angrily. Lex jolted back in shock. "For starters, you don't even know for certain if I 'got it on' with Tailtu. I'm a Velthomer, I have ways of producing excess body heat for warmth that, oh, I don't know? DON'T INCLUDE ME BREAKING THE VOW THAT I MADE AND HAVE KEPT SINCE CHILDHOOD?!"

Lex froze, then covered his face. "Oh... _shit_. How the hell could I forget about something like that? I'm so sorry about that, buddy." apologized Lex. "That was... really, REALLY insensitive of me. I... I don't know what got into me. I feel like I'm my dad or Danan." he sighed and rubbed his face. "So... what really happened?"

* * *

Afterwards, Tailtu and Azel started a proper romance, which ended up being a sort of whirlwind romance. They courted for a couple of months, then decided that it worked, and so they were married. Arthur arrived at about the time their Silessean exile ended and it was time to confront the true usurpers. Initially, Tailtu insisted on coming along, despite having just given birth, especially since Azel was leaving. He reluctantly allowed her to come along while they left Arthur in the care of a friend in Zaxon. (They were already planning on moving to Silesse on a permanent basis. To many bad memories in other countries). But as soon as Azel realized just how bad the fighting was going to be after they took Phinora, he convinced her to return to Zaxon and Arthur. Fierce fighting and hunting down her father? No, he wasn't going to involve her in that.

Azel got lucky. Thanks to Dew's foresight, he survived Belhalla. He didn't even hesitate to make his escape. In the "battle"s aftermath, they moved to a village in northern Silesse. They were both exhausted; physically, mentally, and emotionally. Yet, in that state of exhaustion... they somehow managed to have and care for Teeny. Having to take care of her and her brother proved to be the distraction that their parents needed for the time being.

But over time, reality reared its ugly head once again and made things difficult for everyone involved. They had been resisting the changes that Arvis was bringing about on principal, but doing so... proved unpopular at the time. They soon found it harder and harder to make a living. Fearing that it might lead to an arrest, a "shoot first, ask questions later" situation, or an even worse exile, Azel decided that it was in their best interests for him to travel to Belhalla in order for him to confront his brother and try to sort things out.

The road from northern Silesse to Belhalla, however, is a long one. And during his long treck, the Loptyr sect was alerted to his presence. They knew that Arvis would be lenient on him, and would likely make certain concessions on his behalf, and maybe even make certain investigations that could not be allowed. So, they decided that something had to be done about him.

They lost track of him on the road, but since they knew his final destination, they decided to lay their trap outside of Belhalla and wait for his arrival. They shifted the schedule of an old servant from Velthomer whom Azel knew and trusted, so that he would constantly have his daily shifts outside of the castle grounds. The man had no idea that he was involved in a trap for his old master.

Azel encountered him "by chance" just outside of Belhalla, and they talked for a bit, and Azel gave him a general idea of where he had been living. The Sect was lying in wait nearby, listening in and gathering their ambush party.

They were just finishing their conversation when the ambush struck, a team involving a baker's dozen dark mages. The old servant was struck down in the ensuing onslaught, but Azel managed to kill half the squad in retaliation. Realizing that they were somehow losing, they decided to utilize their trump card, the stone spell. It was fired and it hit him directly, but Azel refused to go quietly.

As his body was in the midst of turning into stone, he turned and poured all of his strength into one final fireball. He launched it at one of the remaining dark mages. The spell left his fingertips just prior to the spell finishing its work and reducing him to granite. The fireball streaked towards the head of one of the remaining dark mages, and he couldn't quite dodge in time, and it grazed the left side of his face. The mage fell to the ground. "Mordred!" one of his companions cried out, running to his aid.

They pulled off Mordred's hood, only to discover that he was still alive, but he now had a third degree burn covering the entirety of the left side of his face. While most of the mages were tending to him, one of them inspected Azel's statue. "So... what are we going to do with him?" he asked

"Shove him in some dark corner of Belhalla's basement. Let the bastard collect dust." growled another one of the mages. "I'm sure that the archbishop would love that bit of irony. The Emperor living away his life of luxury, never realizing that he's doing all over the remains of his beloved little brother."

"And what about his family? What are we going to do about him?" asked the first mage.

"Why do you care, Skrucha? We'll inform Blume of where his sister is hiding, then we'll have him go get her. Simple." said the second mage.

"Not without me, he won't." growled Mordred "I want to be in the party that brings her in. I owe this bastard for this." he said, while holding his hand of his burn.

"Fine. We'll inform Lord Blume once you've had some time to recover.

* * *

They hadn't known ahead of time how long Azel should be gone, but due to Mordred's recovery period being thrown into the mix, Tailtu was given enough time to start to sense that something was amiss. She started to drill Arthur on survival techniques, and she began to pick up practice with her thunder tome once more.

Blume's men came for her one day while Arthur was out playing. This was both a curse and a blessing. This meant that she only needed to defend Teeny, and Arthur couldn't be caught in the crossfire or be used as a hostage. So, she held Teeny tightly to her chest and started firing thunderbolts everywhere. She took down a lot of Blume's men, but the battle ended shortly after Morderd got the drop on her. But not because he had captured her. He snuck up on her and grabbed her from behind. She lashed out fearfully, and struck the right side of his face with a thunderbolt at point blank range. As he shrieked and dropped to the floor, clutching at the injury, she froze and stared at him in horrified fascination.

This proved to be enough of a distraction for Freege soldiers to swoop in and pin her down. All the while, Mordred was writhing on the floor screaming "You bitch! You'll pay for this! You'll pay in blood!" Mordred would survive his injuries, but they would both leave prominent facial scars, leading him to be given the nickname "Skaro", and be referred to almost exclusively by that name. He hated this family for what they had done to him, but he couldn't exact his vengeance on the parents, as Hilda was busy using her on brand of torment on Tailtu, and Azel was untouchable for now. So he would go on to take his wrath out on the son, trying to make his life as miserable as possible. His grudge even became personal in that regard when Arthur ended up being tied to the deaths of all four of Mordred's brothers in a single day, but that is an entirely different story.

Tailtu and Teeny were brought to Blume's territory in the Manster district, where Tailtu would live out her remaining days in agony, thanks to the sheer brutality of her psychotic sister-in-law. When it all finally caught up with her and caused her to expire all to soon, her remains were placed in a frozen casket in the Freege family crypt. She still looked as beautiful as she always had. Her body still relatively intact, looking almost like someday life could somehow be restored to those stiffened limbs...


	7. The Wounded Lioness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter of FoOF! To be honest, for a while I had NO idea what I was going to do for this one. But then, I was finally inspired after the rewrite of "Rage Over The Past", so I came up with something. This chapter wound up being more backstory and explanations of behavior, with a couple of tangents, then anything else. What that means is, this chapter was essentially unplanned and made completely on the fly, unlike practically every other chapter in this spinoff. I hope that you guys think that this chapter turned out decently for what it is. Two more left to go. One about Ferry and Lewyn, and one exclusively about Dew. 
> 
> As always, please leave a review and enjoy! And no, it's not an April Fools Joke, I intended to finish this yesterday, but never got around to it.

 

Given her origins, she shouldn't have been so proud. Noblemen have affairs and sire bastards all the time. So, nothing should have made her special. But the fact that her father ultimately decided not only to recognize her, but to legitimize her, made her special. Hence was the wellspring of her pride.

Well, to be more precise, it greatly enhanced her pride. The reason why she was legitimized in the first place was because of an incident that happened in the first place  _because_  she was ALREADY treated like royalty. She was a preteen at that point, and it's likely her legitimization wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for that incident.

To understand the circumstances behind her legitimization, and thus, the course that her life would take, one must first know of her roots. Lachesis's mother was the former caretaker for Nordion castle, and in the opinion of many, a fine figure of a woman. That opinion was shared by the king of Nordion, who eventually had a longstanding affair with the caretaker... which eventually led to Lachesis.

Out of fondness for her mother, the king of Nordion likely would've legitimized her from the start. However, the caretaker did not wanted to deal with the uproar that this would cause (as Eldigan's mother still had another two years of life left in her and word of the affair would create a huge scandal), so she abruptly turned in her resignation and left without informing the king of his child. She eventually settled down in a frontier village with her little Lachesis, where she hoped she could live in obscurity.

However, the locals did suspect something. All of Agustria was at least familiar with the lords of Nordion, and the citizens could recognize the marks of one of its members. From the family resemblance, to her naturally regal bearing, to the subtle yet noticeable blessings that her bloodline granted her. They respected her mother's wishes and didn't speak of it out loud, but it affected how the two of them were treated. Because bastard or not, a Nordion was a Nordion, and they were to be revered, so Lachesis always was. Lachesis's mother never quite caught on (somewhat willfully), and thought she was just seen as the town belle.

So the two ladies were treated like they were the local nobility. While this initially brought them good things, Lachesis eventually attracted the unwanted attention from the majority of the local population of young males, all vying for her favor. (After all, how often would someone like THEM get a chance with someone like  _her?)_ As they all grew, they all began to grow more violent in their contests for her favor, a fact of life that Lachesis grew to despise. Fighting over something important, she could understand, but over HER, or more specifically, POSSESSION of her, that inherently disgusted Lachesis.

She actively tried to discourage these fights, but they continued to occur and grow worse until one day one of them turned into a murder, thus attracting the attention of the ACTUAL local lords. That was how Eldigan first came into her life. He was brought in as part of the investigation.

He quickly recognized why all the local boys were taken in by her. But he also realized that they had been fighting over the surface details. The truth of the matter, Lachesis wasn't beautiful and regal like a dove or swan, or some rare flow, like some of the local boys had claimed. No, this young lady was a majestic lioness, that was the conclusion that Eldigan came to within a day of meeting her.

As details of the situation were brought forward to him, he became more and more certain that his conclusion was correct. It was discovered that after the murder had taken place, the perpetrator had tried to seize her. Instead of acting like a typical damsel in distress, Lachesis had instead defended herself and badly wounded him. A wound that actually enabled his swift capture.

As the investigations into Lachesis herself proceeded, Eldigan didn't need to do much investigating in order to realize that the rumors about her being nobility were, in fact, true. He recognized her mother, and remembered the fuss made about her sudden departure from Nordion. He was able to put the pieces together from there just from ancillary details and Lachesis's appearance alone.

He had a long talk with the old caretaker before she passed, and she did pass away shortly after this. The stress of the incident and investigation caused her to have a heart attack. She survived the initial attack, but was unable to recover from it and was well on her way to the afterlife by the time that Eldigan left for home.

Eldigan had a long talk with his father about the situation when he got home, and it was decided that Lachesis would be brought to Nordion and be raised as a proper princess from then on.

* * *

While Eldigan new from almost the beginning that they were both related, Lachesis did not. She knew that everyone treated her in a special manner, but as stated previously, nobody spoke of her probable noble status out loud around her. Thus she had no idea who she likely was. Thus, she quickly found herself smitten with Eldigan once he showed up. Here was the first man in her general age range that she had met to not immediately go all gaga over her! And he fit all of her criteria for a proper man too! The seeds of love were thus planted in her heart, seeds which were affected by the death of her mother.

When Eldigan showed back up, providing her with a way out of the situation she found herself in, her heart immediately latched onto her "savior". Once she found out that he was, in fact, her half brother... it was too late to fully detach it. It did not help that, while her life at Nordion castle was a definite step up, the general attitude of the male population remained consistent, with Eldigan remaining the sole exception in her eyes.

Thus, she developed her infamous standards for a suitor. Her perceived brother complex.

People took note, and rumors abounded. While there was some truth to them on her end, on Eldigan's...

He was always quite fond of her, from the moment that he met her that held true. But is fondness the equivalent of love or holding her up as his standards for a woman? He had known from almost the beginning that she was his half-sister, and in his younger years, he was a bit of a tsundere, he didn't make immediate emotional connections. Thus, he didn't fall in love with her by mistake. Given what had happened recently, he wouldn't have considered it.

* * *

You see, while he had been studying in the academy in Granville, a controversial scholar had come to the academy and explained that his studies implied that genetic diversity actually helped a bloodline in the long run, and thus he encouraged the dissolution of racial prejudices that led to marriage between couples from different nations to be frowned upon. Predictably, there had a been a backlash, (As the Grannvallians saw themselves as the supreme race, with Agustrians and Silessians a rung beneath them, those from the northern Thracian Penninsula half a step below that, and everyone else even lower than that) Sigurd, Quan, and Eldigan, who all thought such prejudices were ridiculous to begin with, had all thought that he had made a compelling argument.

They all agreed that if one of them fell in love with a foreigner and a controversy arose because of it, the others would help him fight tooth and nail for her.

They had barely made this promise when the King of Nordion started to put pressure on Eldigan to marry. All of this was going on in the background when Lachesis arrived in Nordion. While she was mooning over him, he was already planning to visit Quan in Leonster. Planning to scout out the ladies at the court while he was there in order to see if there was one who fit his father's (and to some degree his own) standards.

He found Grahnye. She wasn't perfect, but... she was suitable. Not really a firm believer in love, Eldigan wound up simply settling with her, since she fit enough requirements. Still, he was a bit disappointed that she contained none of Lachesis's fire. He would've preferred a woman with fire in her. But alas those weren't popular and weren't encouraged in the courts. So he lived with his rather plain wife.

Grahnye was no fool, and she quickly realized that her husband bore her no real... will towards her. Good or bad. This eventually bred some resentment in her heart towards her sister in law, whom Eldigan showed nothing but good will for, and she came to believe the rumors about her relationship with Eldigan.

* * *

While Eldigan always remained foremost in her mind, for whatever reason, Lachesis found Finn to be fascinating on some level. Quan and Ethlyn blatantly put quite a lot of trust in him, and yet he didn't seem to notice or care. He acted as if every task he was assigned was a test of worth for a greenhorn, despite his age and body language implied that he had at least a couple of years of experience under his belt. It was clear to her that he was good at his job as Lord Quan's personal knight, but utterly lacked pride in his work or self-confidence. He considered everything simply doing his duty.

Lachesis couldn't recall ever encountering anyone like him before. Thus, she gained a desire to study this unusual rising knight, and she was given a good opportunity to when, as a favor to Eldigan, Lord Quan assigned Finn as her personal guard.

At first, she was thrown off by the fact that Finn did not behave around her as most men did. With some prodding, she managed to figure out that he did indeed revere her as much as other men, however, he had absolutely no desire to even attempt pursuing her. He was respectful and he knew his place. Their relationship must remain purely professional, and personal feelings must not interfere with his duty. Considering that Eldigan was the prototype for her ideal man, and he was made of honor, she respected his dedication to honoring his knightly vows. So she respected and appreciated him in return for it. After all, his dedication to his knightly duties was almost on par with Eldigan's so of course she would highly value him.

Of course, he wasn't quite Eldigan. He technically wasn't of high rank, and he lacked the bearing and the confidence that Eldigan did. But maybe she could help him with the latter two things, she specialized in poise and confidence after all. If she could successfully train Finn to have a sense of pride in himself, and if he was promoted... she considered she might try being the pursuer for once and shake things up.

In her eyes, Finn was well on his way to becoming the most worthy man that she could possibly get besides Eldigan, who was completely out of her reach. All her other suitors paled in comparison, suitors like that Beowolf fellow. He joined the army claiming to be a friend of Eldigan's. While Eldigan was indeed familiar with him, calling them friends was a bit of a stretch. In her eyes, this was simply a blatant attempt on his part to win favor from her. That irritated her. So while she was cordial when she was around him, she primarily ignored his presence.

* * *

Then Eldigan was murdered and her world seemed to burn. She used the term murdered because he clearly didn't fight back, and Chagaal was so smug as to send Eldigan's head back to them in a container. Initially, she couldn't even process her grief. All she could feel was rage and hate for the man who had stolen her world away from her. She went straight to the battlefield and like a lioness stalking a wounded wildebeest, she stalked Chagaal.

After receiving mortal injuries in the main battle inside the castle, he had tried to run like a coward and slip into a hidden passage. But Eldigan had taught her all about these passages before he died. As Chagaal fled, Lachesis ambushed him as he descended a stairway and stabbed him in the eye with her Earth Sword. Using the momentum, she grabbed him by the back of the head and violently slammed him into the wall repeatedly.

As he slid down into a blood heap, she shrieked "Take a look at what remains of your precious kingdom you smug son of a bitch! It's nothing but the stones and blood that you see before you now, and it's all your fault! You've ruined us! You've ruined us all! You've destroyed Agustria!"

Chagaal, somehow still barely alive, tried to crawl away. With strength rivaling her brother's, she seized a broken chunk of stone from the wall, and slammed it down on his back with all of her might, crushing his spine.

Then she collapsed to her knees, turning into a sobbing wreck. That was the state in which Finn and Beowolf found her.

* * *

Lachesis knew that Eldigan would've been appalled by what she did to Chagall. After all, had he not laid down his life because he could not bear to take that course of action? Thus her grief and her guilt caused her to retreat into her room and fall into a cycle of self harm and reparation, with the aid of her Earth Sword. After letting this go on for a few weeks, Finn finally forced her to break the cycle by forcing her to stab him with it, and thus causing her to actually be rejuvenated instead of being caught in an endless cycle of self harm that automatically undid itself.

In some timelines, whenever this sequence of events happened, this shocking event generally shocked her out of her stupor and caused her to put her life together and to fall for Finn. But here... in this version of events, the message that she should live did get through to her, but her grieving mind muddled it. Twisted it.

Her grief had brought her to the edge of madness, and such a disturbed mind... is not conducive for logical thinking, even when it has been shocked back to reality. In her mind, the fact that Finn was willing to go to such an extreme was the last proof that she needed that he was a perfect fit for her extreme standards. And the way that her mind interpreted the "you need to live?" message?

Most of the noble lines of Agustria were either dead or dying now. Ares still lived, so it seemed that Agustria's last chance may in fact lie in the house of Nordion. As one of its last representatives, she should live on. And... since she was one of its last representatives, shouldn't she aid her country and add to it? Here was someone who had more than proved that they were worthy of mingling with her, and they were encouraging her to live. Maybe she should live in order to continue the bloodline with him. Not the most logical or moral of thought processes, but in times of duress, aren't logic and morals among the first things to flee from us?

So she ceased trying to hurt herself, and instead tried to seduce her savior. Incessantly. He refused her with adamant resolve. She thought that she could wear him down with time, but with time his responses only grew harsher and more firm. Finally, he went to his lord and requested that he be removed from his post as her bodyguard, even reporting why. He didn't even try to hide that he did it, he did it when she could hear him.

That's when she realized the bitter irony of her situation. She had found a man worthy of the standard that Eldigan had set in her heart... but Eldigan would never have acted as she wanted Finn to act. Indeed, she realized, if they had not been siblings and he had been in Finn's position, Eldigan would have reacted in a similar manner. She had set for herself an impossible requirement, an irreconcilable prerequisite and reward... and now she was actively seeking for it to be fulfilled. She cried out in agony and despair once she realized it.

She'd never have her perfect knight... so she might as well throw herself to one of those lesser suitors that had been hounding her for her entire life. That is how she eventually found herself in Beowolf's bed. That's how she eventually found herself bearing Beowolf's son.

She wasn't blind. She could see the condescending looks, the glares, the shaking heads. She knew that she had now and forever irreparably damaged her image. She would forever be seen as the spoiled princess with the brother complex and loose legs. But... all of their reputations were officially in the gutter as of right now. It... it just didn't matter any more. Their looks of disapproval didn't matter.

But one look did, indeed, matter. Did, indeed, hurt her. The baleful, disappointed look that Finn gave her over it. She couldn't escape from it. Even when he left. Even when she tried to bury her thoughts of him and concentrate on her child and its father.

Beowolf telling her that he had been aware of her true feelings, and to go join Finn in Leonster just tore open the wound in her heart anew. What would she say? What would she do in order to make up to him? How could they reconcile?

As it seemed, it wasn't as difficult as she expected. The full weight of the twin massacres and the fall of the northern peninsula put him in pretty much the same position in which she had been in following Eldigan's death. Prince Leif was his only reason for living now, but he was drained. She could tell. When they finally had room to breath, they sat down and had a long talk. At the end, she propositioned him again. Though this time, she wasn't forceful in the slightest, and she made it clear that she was completely willing to back down.

Finn took note, and no harsh words were spoken this time. The fall of Leonster had made him cynical, and he just didn't care about following his code to the letter anymore. A livable life for his lord and possibly himself is all he wanted now. He really needed to find some kinds of joy in life other than in serving his lord, so he relented. It did not take long for Nanna to be conceived. Through her, her father did find something new to live for.

* * *

But this new status quo, this potential for a relatively happy ending among the ruins of northern Thracia, was ruined by guilt. Around the time that they found refuge in Tahra, her thoughts had begun to wander. She had begun to think of the son that she had abandoned to Isaac. He was the third of three men she could say the she had wronged. Finn, Beowolf, and Delmund.

She wanted to right her wrongs. As far as she could tell, she had made things right with Finn, but as for the other two... Beowolf was long dead. There was nothing that she could do for him now. The best she could do was make the reparations she owed their son, count for him. And she did owe Delmund.

Everything about the way she had handled him was wrong. From his conception to his care. She had never been particularly fond of him, and if she was being honest with herself, she had forked him over to Adean with nary a second thought. Nanna had received all of the love that a child should receive from their mother, and Delmund had received none whatsoever. He had never really known his mother's love.

That was wrong.

That was utterly and unforgivably wrong on so many levels. She realized that. So now, years later, she felt immense guilt over the way in which she had treated her son. Over time, the desire to do something about him increased. The desire to take him back and to make up for lost time, to give him the love that he should've been receiving all along.

That was the reason why she was so insistent that she must go to Isaac in order to retrieve him. Her guilt, like her grief years earlier, blinded her to reason. Her guilt forbade her from seeing Finn's point when he tried to dissuade her. Her guilt is what caused the words to be spoken that ultimately drove them apart.

Fed up with being denied the chance to get her son back, she angrily yelled at Finn "You're only trying to stop me because Delmund means nothing to you. Heaven forbid you care about someone who isn't your lord, daughter, or the woman your'e screwing. Nope, this poor lonely child doesn't matter because he's not your son."

She had struck a nerve, and now Finn was seething. "Yes, he's not my son. And who's fault is that?! Because the gods know he should've been! Given a few years and time. But no, as usual, you had to throw reason to the wind and follow your own idiotic, ill-thought-out plan. What happened as a result? You threw yourself at the first cur that came your way even though you didn't give a damn about him, and have regretted it ever since. Why can't you accept reality for what it is for  _ONCE_  in your  **GODDAMN LIFE?!** " he bellowed.

Lachesis was mortified. In that instant, it had become abundantly clear to her that Finn had never truly forgiven her for what she had done. He had simply chosen to forget it and not bring it up. It hurt, it... it felt like a betrayal.

She couldn't stay around. Not after this. She didn't say another word. She only gave him a look. She turned about and walked away. She packed her essentials, said farewell to the children, and left for Isaac.

* * *

She never reached Delmund. She made a stop at Darna and accidentally attracted the attention of some spies for the Loptyrian sect. They figured out where she must be heading and made some preparations for her.

As she traveled, she had to pass by the Yied Shrine. She couldn't see the shrine sitting on the clifftop, as it was night, but she was experienced enough to realize that it was a great place for an ambush. She was a Master Knight after all. Her battle instincts told her to be ready, so she had one hand on her sword, and another on her tome. Just as she was about to make the turn away from the cliffs the shrine was situated on and make her way down the path towards Isaac, the inevitable trap was sprung.

However, she was ready. In fact, she obliterated the trap. Thirty odd mercenaries and dark priests against a lioness of Nordion. They never stood a chance. Even then, however, she was not safe. For the Loptyrians had a couple of backup plans up their sleeves.

The first? They had someone with a ready Fenrir tome waiting on top of the shrine just in case the ground troops failed. The initial shot that came her way missed, and alerted her of the danger, so she set her horse into a gallop and made a beeline for Isaac castle. Two more shots were fired at her from the shrine, and one of them did manage to hit her. However, it was non-lethal, so she shrugged it off and kept up her charge onwards towards the Isaac capital.

The Loptyrians, however, had prepared an ambush there as well. This was bad, as not only was she exhausted, but she was also badly injured, and she might have mild heat stroke. But still, she was a lioness to the end, and if it was fight that they wanted, then she would fight them tooth and nail. She thought, taking her hands off of her injury and reading them for a fight.

A fight which never happened. After she had escaped to ambushes in succession, they didn't want to take any chances, so one of their number had a fully charged Stone spell in hand, and he simply touched her horse, and released the spell, then darted off. Or at least tried to. Lachesis noticed him, and decapitated him, and then with her spare hand, threw a fireball into the crowd. Then her entire body was encased in stone.

After debating it among themselves, the sect members decided to send her petrified remains to Nordion. After all, would the people not love a monument in honor of their lioness? Perhaps the dedication of a statue in her honor, showing her at her best, in the midst of battle as a Master Knight, would help to quell unrest for at least a time.

And so Lachesis received the ironic fate of being a decoration in the heart of Nordion while her children struggled against imperial ambition.


	8. Manipulation and Decay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the penultimate chapter of "Fall of Our Fathers"! I have had the idea for this chapter for years, but now that I've actually written it... I got writers block on the bits where I normally expand. But I still wanted to put this out, so... here is what you get for now. I hope you think that what you got is still pretty decent and explanatory. This one is about Ferry/Erinyes and Lewyn. 
> 
> The next major update shall be the last, and it will be a case of coming full circle. "Dew Drops", covering the fate of Dew. What was almost a standalone in the C.R. universe, and then was almost the first chapter of "Fall", before ultimately getting erased (I think by accident).

 

Those who had seen them together in their youth would have thought that they would have a wonderful future together. None would have suspected that the political situation in Jugdral would cause their loving relationship to experience such a horrible fate.

Lewyn and Ferry had always been friends. Even when they were little, many were predicting that they would one day become husband and wife. Oh, he did make a promise to Mahnya when they were younger, but in truth, she never took it seriously. For she could see what her sister and Lewyn had, and she sincerely wanted Ferry to be with him.

Even his uncles, who never particularly liked him, thought that she would make a good match for him some day. While they had some aspirations for the throne even then, at this time, before their brother died, before Lewyn ran away, they had begrudgingly relented to the fate of never being king, and having Lewyn be their ruler. Based on how she behaved, they figured that she'd be a decent queen.

Even the wind itself seemed to want to pair them together. Thanks to his holy blood, Lewyn could see the wind sprites, the servants of Forsetti, and they knew it. They would frequently tease him about her, and mess with her hair and clothes in his presence, making them constantly flow in the wind, in an attempt to get a reaction.

Ferry, ignorant of this fact, did notice how the wind seemed to blow against her more than it did anyone else. She saw it as an ill omen. She saw it as a sign that she would have to fight for everything she got, because for some reason Forsetti did not like her. Thus, she didn't dare to dream that she could ever become Lewyn's bride, because as she saw it, she had the wind's curse. Thus she supported her sister as a possible bride for the prince.

Yet, the "curse" didn't deter her from her dream of becoming one of Silesse's Angelic Knights. She fought for her title as hard as she could, and become the youngest member in Silessian history (she did this, even though in actuality she didn't really need to fight like this, she would have earned the position with time anyways).

Ferry was not, in actuality, despised by Forsetti. In fact, nothing could have been further from the truth. She actually had his blessing. The dragon "god" had maintained a watchful eye on the continent of Jugdral, and already he saw the early stirrings of what was coming. And he was willing to do whatever it took to protect humanity as a whole in Jugdral. That included manipulating his chosen people. This included practicing in manipulation and eugenics.

He knew that Lewyn would grow up to be a powerful heir, but if the schemes of Loptyr were to be stopped, he needed to sire an heir even more powerful than himself. Using his tome like a long-distance spy camera, he kept a watchful eye on the prince, and he watched the interactions between the two. With time, and after studying her and human genetics, he came to realize that if _she_ were the one to mother the heir to the Silessian throne, then that super-powerful heir he sought to create to counter Loptyr would be born.

So he ordered the winds to give her his blessing, and to do what they could to bring the two of them together.

* * *

While Lewyn did like her, he grew up to be a free spirit and a flirt, so he never actually made a move on her. Growing worried, Forsetti decided to attempt to accelerate things. It was, in fact, a blunder that nearly cost him everything.

Forsetti thought that if Lewyn were forced into a position of responsibility, he would be forced to clean up his act and marry sooner. Thus, he arranged for the winds of the Silesse to carry to the king a rare, incurable disease, leading him to perish all too soon.

Lewyn... did not react as expected. He had shared a close bond with his father, and his father had seen the position as something of a burden, and had made that clear to his son. He had actually encouraged his son's free spirited, exploring nature, telling him to take advantage of it while he was young, and having done so... well, he would be glad for it when he was older.

Thus, when the king died unexpectedly, Lewyn knew that he was not ready to lead. He felt that he would be an incompetent leader when compared to his father. Thus, he ran, throwing a giant spanner in the works for Forsetti's plan.

The king's brothers deciding to vie for the throne and half of the Angelic Knights taking their side? Definitely not a part of Forsetti's plan. He tried to stop them by stripping from them the blessings of his blood pact. But this failed to halt their ambitions. They simply did not make this information public, and they made the (poor) excuse that their blood probably just stagnated with age for the scenario that it became public knowledge. They'd never admit to what had happened, they were proud decendents of the Crusader Ced, after all.

Forsetti thought about attempting to manipulate Ferry into going after the wayward prince... but it turned out he didn't need to do that.

In tears, the queen herself begged Ferry to go after him, so Forsetti decided that he'd help her as best as he could on her quest, demanding that wind sprites give her aid.

They ensured that even the slightest whispers on the wind about the prince's whereabouts reached her ears. This is what eventually led her to Agustria and the presence of the vile king Chagaal, who tried to give them a false lead... and ended up unintentionally bringing their long mission to an end.

Lewyn made a scene out of making fun of how easily she had been deceived, yet it actuality, this made him nervous. If someone such as her had been so easily deceived by someone as obviously scummy as King Chagaal, then... how could he count on a reliable reaction from people regarding his uncle's rule, or his own rule if he was inept? Enough people would probably wind up kissing up to him...

He had no intention of going home, but maybe he should have her tag along, and take her into his confidence. No, not for any romantic purpose, but so he could teach her the ways of the world... and to use her as a sort of gauge.

So, word was sent back to Silesse that the prince had been found, but he wasn't budging due to a prior commitment. Thus, Ferry would be staying with him in order to keep an eye on him.

And so, a scenario that did mesh with Forsetti's plans was enacted, Lewyn and Ferry were stuck together for an extended period of time, and Ferry had a romantic rival to spurn her into action.

It was Sylvia who became aware of their rivalry first. She recognized it immediately. Thanks to the industry in which she worked, she could immediately detect the chemistry between the two and the sparks that flew, even if they themselves could not.

Ferry may not have been aware of consciously, but on a deeper level, however... She understood why Lewyn spent time with this girl, but something about her... bothered her. Why should her flirtations disturb her? Lewyn was a flirt, so it was only natural that he'd get along with a fellow flirt. And yet...

She didn't become consciously aware of her rivalry with Sylvia for a long time, not until after they had finally returned to Silesse. There, Sylvia made her intent clear.

In that moment of revelation, Ferry's jealousy flared, and the "wind's curse" became forgotten. It took her an entire day to decipher her feelings. She eventually came to realize that it wasn't just the idea that this random dancer could become Queen that bothered her. It was the idea that she could take Lewyn away from her that did.

That jealousy... finally gave her the will to act on her feelings. It didn't matter if the wind itself was against her! She would fight the wind, and destiny, and win the prince!

Lewyn noticed her newfound confidence and resolve, and appreciated it. When Mahnya died, she went straight into his arms. Based on their reactions to one another in this distressing time, Sylvia came to realize that she had lost. The two of them had a long talk in the aftermath, and once the battle was over and done, Ferry became the prince's bride.

The queen was thrilled. For Ferry, it was a bittersweet occasion, for her sister would not be able to attend. She would not be able to act as her maid of honor. So instead, she gave that honor to Sylvia in an effort to mend the rift between them. Oh, Sylvia did weep over her loss, but she came to accept it. She accepted the honor, and did the best that she could for the wedding. Ferry noticed and intentionally aimed the bouquet directly at her.

* * *

Then came their wedding night. She should've been fine. Due to the timing, there should have been no consequences for being overly romantic. But once again, Forsetti reached out and messed with a human body, this time screwing up her cycle. Thus, on their very first night together, they conceived the child that Forsetti had been aiming for.

This created something of a hullaballoo of emotions. Joy from the queen, trepidation from Lewyn, confusion over how this could have happened from Ferry, and ceaseless teasing from their comrades about how it took them no time at all to have a kid.

When the boy was born, he was born with the mark of Forsetti in his left eye. This made him look like he had heterochromia at first glance. Lewyn could also see the wind spirits gathering about his cradle.

To his family, this foreshadowed for the little prince great things. Thus they decided it would not be too arrogant to name him in favor of his crusading ancestor Ced, for they had a feeling that he would turn out like him.

Unfortunately, the king and queen did not get to spend much quality time with their newborn before destiny called them to Belhalla. Belhalla... where Arvis and Manfroy slaughtered a number of their comrades. Belhalla, where Manfroy gave Lewyn a wound that would never heal. Pulsating and black, he would routinely need to tend to it, and it would cause him to vomit a black, inky fluid that almost looked alive at times.

While Lewyn attempted to heal, the couple remained close and actually spent more time together than they otherwise would have. Thus, little Fee was born. Named after the mythical queen of the wind fairies. Because they felt that there was something magical about this little girl, despite the awful circumstances she was born under. She was actually given a middle name. Annand. It was her Aunt's middle name, and it meant happiness. A name that had meaning, because they dearly wished happiness for this little girl despite the odds against her finding it.

If only her parents could enjoy some happiness themselves, for around the time that she was born, Silesse was conquered by Grannvale and the old queen perished.

The Grannvalians were willing to let Ferry reign as a figurehead, but Lewyn quickly realized that Manfroy sought to finish what he had started back at Belhalla. Thus, he attempted to go into hiding.

He managed to avoid Manfroy for a few months by going into the mountains and getting aid from Falken, an old friend of his. He was glad for the aid, yet his presence with him concerned him, because Falken had two children himself, Hawk and Femina. They needed their father too, after all. Yet... he couldn't deny that he needed the help.

Unfortunately for them, they failed to realize that the wound that Manfroy had given Lewyn acted as a sort of beacon. It wasn't exact, but it could give Manfroy a fifteen mile approximation of where he was, and he had all the time in the world. Not precise, but still very dangerous nonetheless.

Indeed, this eventually lead to their downfall. After four months on the run, they were finally caught. Poor Falken did the best that he could, but Manfroy easily sent a black tendril through his gut and suspended him in the air. He was willing to let him live for a little longer so that he could witness the prince's end.

Lewyn let loose the full power of the Forsetti tome on the archbishop, the environment even causing ice spikes to be added to the mix. While some of his acolytes were blown away by this attack, Manfroy himself stood firm. To Lewyn's horror. This was just like Belhalla all over again.

Manfroy chuckled "You little fool. Loptyr himself is on my side." upon declaring this, he opened his cloak, revealing an ominous, pulsating black tome bearing the image of a dragon within its linings. "What do you have supporting you, the wind?" Lewyn suddenly found himself being flung about the snow wildly, until he did a face-plant in front of Manfroy. Then Manfroy stuck his bare hand in the wound he had previously given, and drove his hand far, far into Lewyn's body.

"And so... the king of the wind... dies." he proclaimed, unleashing a spell inside Lewyn's body. Black fluid poured out of his orifices as he writhed uncontrollably. Then he tossed the body over the side of the mountain. It crashed through the ice shelf, making a large, blood mess in the snowdrift below.

"No..." said Falken.

"Yes..." said Manfroy. He rotated his finger, and the tendril suspending Falken wrapped around his neck and snapped it. They sent the bodies back to the palace as a message. "Do not resist us. Not even thee much hailed heir of Forsetti can stand against us."

Word was not made public by the Silessian royalty. While they let the lords of Grannvale squawk about their victory, they refused to confirm it for them, for to do so would utterly crush the hope of the people.

So they buried Lewyn in a hidden tomb, and laid the Forsetti tome to rest with him, awaiting the day that Ced became an adult.

* * *

One night, about a month after the body had been returned to the castle, Ferry was awakened by a green mist permeating the castle grounds. For some reason, she felt drawn to the tomb, as were a few servants in the know. It turns out the gut feeling had some merit, as the mist was concentrating inside the tomb. They walked inside and witnessed the mist condensing into a humanoid shape. A lanky, teal haired humanoid. It slipped its fingers beneath the seal for the coffin and tore the lid off, flinging it several feet behind the coffin, causing it to shatter upon impact.

It stared at the corpse for a moment, then reached out a hand and placed it on its skull. The hand began to dissipate, and flesh began to regrow around that same hand on the body. The apparition then turned around and lay down in the coffin, and slowly, the green mist merged with the remaining flesh and became whole again.

The Forsetti tome was flung open, and all the green mist swirled in a green vortex overhead, then entered the body. The tome slammed shut.

For a moment, there was silence, then the steam of breath appeared in the chill air above the coffin, and Lewyn sat straight up and began to examine himself.

Ferry, of course, reacted by charging straight up there and attempting to embrace her apparently resurrected husband. "Lewyn, you've come back to us!" she exclaimed.

"Not... quite." said Lewyn.

"What?!" asked Ferry, freezing in place. She now began to tremble.

"You see your husband, apparently miraculously resurrected, and you don't stop to ponder for a moment on who did it and why. I suppose that I should expect such behavior from you at this point." remarked "Lewyn".

"Who...who are you?" asked Ferry, shaking like a leaf.

"Can you not guess? This world that I put so much into is on the brink of collapse. I cannot allow that. So, I mean to intervene where I can. You ask who I am. Have you guessed yet? I... am Forsetti." he said cooly. Everyone took a step back upon hearing _that_ proclamation. "Though I would prefer it if you told as few people as possible of my presence here. Knowledge of me would only... hinder... my work." he said, walking forward.

"Of course this is happening to me. You always cursed me, and because I dared to marry the prince, you bait me with a false resurrection and take his body from me." moaned Ferry.

Forsetti stopped short and gave her a look. He seemed... surprised. "Why would you think that I have cursed you? I have long watched the prince, and since you were so often with him, I have long watched you. I decided that you were the right match for him a _long_ time ago. Why would you say that I am cursing you, when I have always giving you my blessing and my aid? Why else do you think you have been so successful?"

Ferry couldn't speak, she was absolutely bewildered by this revelation. "And I am not taking him away for good. I have... need of your husband. I am the dominant one in this body now, but he still exists in it. Once I have finished my task, I promise you, I shall return him to you... intact and drawing breath." he promised, stroking her hair.

He smiled at her and said "Silesse shall not go undefended in my absence. My tome shall remain with you, waiting for the day when the son you bore can wield it. You named him well, for he truly was born with the latent talent to rival his ancestor. One day, only the heirs to Loptyr and Naga themselves would be able to stand against him." he stated.

Oh how Ferry cried, but those words had renewed her hope for the future. However, she expected the "borrowing" of her husband to be a relatively short deal. AS time passed and he did not return, however, that hope she bore once more turned to despair. Had Forsetti lied to her in order to prevent resistance to his departure?

Maybe she should have told the children the truth. She had outright told them that their father was alive and on a journey through Jugdral, doing what he could to assist others. Due to the fact that the story of his death and resurrection was a closely guarded secret, the children were growing up thinking the worst of their father. There was little she could do to change their opinion of him.

Eventually, her stress had an effect on her immune system. She began to get sick more often as her trust in Forsetti decayed. In a fit of cosmic irony, she eventually caught the same disease that had killed the old king. And so it was that Lewyn was to lose two of the most important people in his life to the same decay.

She couldn't even say goodbye to her son in the end. He had grown up, taken possession of Forsetti, and gone after his father. She never had the heart to tell either of her children that in doing so, he was... _technically_ acting in a manner just like their father and proving he was his father's son.

And Fee... oh, poor girl. She only ever wished joy upon this wonderful creature, but now all that she was giving her now was despair. She had told her daughter stories of her youth and of her friends, and she had heard whispers of possible uprisings throughout Jugdral. Like in Thracia and in Isaac.

She knew her daughter, and knew that she would take off as soon as a confirmation was made, so she made sure that she inherited all of her equipment from her glory days. She also asked Femina to help watch over her, as her father, Falken had looked over Lewyn. She promised that she would. She was motivated anyways, her brother, Hawk, had made the same promise regarding Ced and gone off with him.

"Oh Lewyn, if only we could have been together... properly. If only neither of us had been subjected to our different decays..." those were her final thoughts as she passed away.

 


	9. Dew Drops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, I finally wash my hands of the prequel series to Crusaders Reborn: Retcons By The Seat of My Pants, I mean the Fall of Our Fathers. It only took me what, three years to write nine chapters. What a nice consistent pace! 
> 
> So... I keep coming up with new ideas and dropping them at the drop of a hat. Is there anything that you guys particularly want to see me write in the near future? Anything that I've mentioned that sound good to you? I'm totally open to doing alt-universe fics now. Ones that aren't high school or real world based, I mean. Right now what I want to do is 1: Go back to my TF fic and give it one more shot, one or two people actually liked it, so maybe a revision and reordering is in order there. 2: Tell a story about Kliff and Linde becoming a couple. 3: Finally write that inter-game Tournament story idea I threw out as a possibility about a year ago. 4: Tell a story about the Awakening Trio in Fates where they actually came from the bad timeline. 5: Briggid/Azel story that I threw the idea out for in the anniversary story. and 6: Possibly write a sequel/follow up to one of my one-shots.
> 
> Let's see if any of that actually come to fruition. In other news, I'm now excited for Three Houses, even though I don't have a Switch. I've decided I'm going to buy the Switch Lite when it comes out. (That was exactly the kind of announcement I've actually been holding out for, among other things.) I saw that dancers are a thing in that game, and I read a report that any female could potentially become one under certain conditions. If that is true, I'm going to make Bernadetta one. Why? I justify it as a way of making her to learn to be more social and outgoing. So basically, an Olivia. So it's legitimately for character/story reasons and not just because I can sort of relate to her attitude and is so far pretty much the only character I care about.

 

For years, his daughter had wished that he would drop dead. When she finally got her wish, it happened via him doing what he always had.

Dew... wasn't aware of his true origins. His first lasting moments of awareness occurred somewhere in the forests of Verdanne, the country being what he considered home. Though, he was fairly certain that he wasn't truly a native. The predominant hair color in the country was brown, and the general population had a general rough physical appearance, which contributed to their reputation as a nation of barbarians.

By taking one look in Dew's general direction, you could tell that he didn't have an ounce of Verdanese blood in him. What, with his blonde hair, smooth features, and eyes that practically glowed in the dim like like those of a cat.

His best guesses was that he was either Agustrian or from the Jungby region of Grannvale. He favored the latter theory, due to his exceptional eyesight, an inherent trait in many natives of Jungby that was frequently boasted of. Dew could see quite well, even in the dark, and he grew quite adept at seeing things that others didn't intend to be visible. Such as a selfish and greedy nature that led to hoarding habits and ill intent towards the neighbors.

He learned to spot these things when he was six. He was begging on the street and had the misfortune of requesting one of prince Gandolf's friends for alms. The response he got was to be booted across the street.

Literally, the man kicked Dew once and sent him flying several meters. It was amazing that Dew didn't rupture anything due to the power behind that kick. Naturally, he wanted revenge.

Dew was clever for a young child. Instead of acting on his desire immediately, he instead was capable of waiting and observing his enemy. He quickly figured out that this friend served as a corrupt "tax collector". So, Dew figured out where he kept the extra cash that he overcharged, then arranged for a chunk of it to be spirited away and put back into circulation. And scrawled a note calling him out.

Gandolf and his friend went ballistic over the loss, claiming that it was their rightly earned "private funds" that had been stolen. So immediate and desperate was their reaction to the theft, that they somehow managed to miss the obviously placed note. Thus they missed their chance to hide it, and thus Jamke was the first one to see it. Realizing the implications of the note, he incited a brief investigation, and reported the findings to the king.

After that, Gandolf was banned from getting involved in tax collection ever again. Enraged, they silently swore that one day, they would find new means of enriching themselves.

* * *

Overjoyed by his success, Dew decided to make this sort of thing his primary means of survival. He was well meaning at first, but there was actually a limit to the amount of greedy people in Verdanne, and so within two years, his habits caused him to develop a minor case of... full on kleptomania. That was why, when later in life he was constantly scolded for continuing his thieving habits, it did little to actually change his actions and attitude. He couldn't very well give up on the lifestyle that he'd maintained for as long as he had been sentient.

The most that the scolding he received under Sigurd's care did was remind him of his roots and predispose him to act more like Robin Hood than a common criminal.

Still, it was somewhat ironic that the event that eventually caused him to fall into Sigurd's company was initiated by him failing to repeat the feat that had started his career. It was kinda embarrassing too. He climbed through an outer window, into a narrow passage, and dropped down into a trap.

Gandolf wanted to draw and quarter him. That isn't a metaphor or exaggeration. He literally wanted to subjugate Dew to such a fate. Putting him in prison for an extended period of time would just be the icing on the cake for him.

Of course, soon thereafter, he had some lady trouble. He hinted to Dew that he might be willing to grant him some leniency if he aided him with a certain troublesome lock...

Dew didn't even consider it. He was young, but he was streetsmart enough to grasp Gandolf's intent, and that he probably wouldn't keep his promise. He may have been an incorrigible thief, but there was no way in the 7 rings of Hell he was helping a wannabe rapist.

This sense of morality is what lead to his freedom. Now, Dew was no fool. He knew that his thievery would be tolerated at best, thus he decided that he should make it as useful as possible and space his thefts out if it were to be somewhat palatable. Thus... staves, swords, enemy coin, and magic rings, that's what he used his skills to obtain.

But there was one thing that was fairly obvious that he could not steal. The hearts of any of the ladies. It was somewhat disappointing to know. He had several crushes, but he knew quite well that he couldn't compete with any of the "real men".

He like Adean, but he could tell, so did Jamke. Then Midir showed up alive and it became blindingly obvious that her heart was utterly owned by him. Out of respect, he refused to even try anything with her. Then the other ladies began to show up. Ayra, Lachesis, and Brigid, he had a fondness for all of them. Heck, he even kinda admired Sylvia for her fortitude.A thief and a dancer, wouldn't that make one heck of a combination?

But he refused to try to pursue any of them. Sylvia was after Lewyn, and the others all had proper suitors. He knew full well that he couldn't hold a candle to any of them. The men _or_ the women. Brigid was an Amazon and he probably had the best chance with her, due to their shared history in thievery, but he didn't feel like pushing his luck or Adean's goodwill.

Lachesis was a proper lady with high standards. She was _way_ out of his league.

And Ayra was a noble Amazon without the thievery connection with a kid to look after. And had even more suitors than Briggid. So trying anything with her would be a problem. Until... it wasn't a problem anymore. The suitor thing anyways.

Dew came to notice that Ayra seemed uncomfortable around her suitors. Thus, he would come around routinely and offer her ways away from them. This especially irritated Lex, who developed a grudge against the little thief.

Dew didn't think much of the whole thing. When Shanan suspiciously asked him whether he was attempting to seduce his aunt, Dew had honestly told him no. So imagine their surprise when, as they were departing for Silesse, she gave him a big kiss.

Of course, Shanan was belligerently angry. He accused Dew of lying to and using him. It took one look at Dew's dumbstruck expression to realize that he was just as shocked as he was, but still, Shanan never let the manner go.

* * *

It only got stranger for Dew from thereon out. Ayra began to make outright advances on him. Some part of him _probably_ knew what she was doing. But the desperate teenager in him didn't care. Whatever her motives, this was the best chance that he would ever get... so he should enjoy it while he could.

This attitude quickly found him becoming a teenaged father. He got a LOT of sideways glances over that one, but he was beyond caring over that. He should've been terrified by the prospect, but in all honesty, he was actually quite happy.

He knew that he was viewed as a child with criminal tendencies, and so he saw this as an opportunity to prove himself. He had an uphill battle. Lex never forgave him for this, and while Shanan was overjoyed over the prospect of having cousins, his view on their father was forever tainted. Thus, he never gave Dew the credit that he truly deserved (A reaction that would only cause everyone pain in the future).

However, not everyone was against Dew. Adean, Midir, Jamke, and Briggid all noticed how seriously he took the matter, and how hard he tried to be a good parent despite his many glaring faults, so they all banded together and tried to help him in various ways (Briggid roping Holyn into the process along the way).

Aiding in the care of Uster and Larcei, as well as the care of her sister's spawn, helped to influence Briggid's decisions regarding her own offspring in the future.

To Dew, the kids were beautiful, like little dew drops glistening on flower petals in the early morning sun. Over time, Dew noticed that Ayra seemed to be softening up around... well, everyone. This could almost be described as a perfect scenario. So, of course that meant that it could not last. Being a thief meant that Dew was required to have at least some level of foresight. Considering that he had dealt with nobles who had refused to see reason before, he figured that the Grannvale lords would not hold off forever.

Thus, he began to make... preparations... for the worst case scenario. Gathering and hoarding anything and everything that could be used to warp people long distances in a hurry. This foresight led him to become the hero of the disadvantaged side at the "battle" of Belhalla.

Unfortunately, he couldn't prepare for everything. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't prevent Ayra's death at the hands of Dannan. It took him until around two and a half years after Belhalla to locate the kids.

He told them that their mother was dead, but he couldn't bring himself to tell them how she had died. Naturally, Shanan didn't take it well. He caught on to his wording and the implication that she had died after Belhalla, and subconsciously blamed Dew for her death. Ulster didn't catch this, and simply accepted the news, believing that she had died at Belhalla. Larcei, however, stubbornly refused to believe her father's report.

* * *

Larcei... never had a good relationship with her father. In raising her, Shanan had unintentionally crafted two very different images in her mind regarding her parents. Her mother, a perfect angel of death of the battlefield. Her father, a scavenging fox that had somehow managed to weasel his way into her mother's bed. Due to this misconception, she never truly accepted Dew. Which was a shame, as Dew really would have done anything for her sake.

He routinely stayed with the kids, then would disappear for long periods of time, gathering resources and intel from around Jugdral. Ulster would at least be friendly with him and welcome him back upon his return, but he wasn't as warm as he could have been. The family prejudice had finally even gotten to him to a degree. Meanwhile, Larcei generally pretended that he didn't even exist or that he was long dead.

The last time that Dew left them was about three months before they were located by Dannan's forces. When that happened, he was causing trouble, as usual, in the heart of Grannvale. When the news broke of the fighting in Isaac, Dew was _very_ glad that he had found a second wind sword to replace the one he had given Ulster.

Now, he had a choice. He could go back to Isaac and help the kids, but he doubted that they'd appreciate his help. So, he decided that he'd help them in another way. He'd go to the royal capital and cause as much trouble as he possibly could.

Over the course of a month and a half, he survived in the Belhalla area, stealing from important figures and causing disturbances wherever he could. Then a heist went wrong and he wound up killing one of the territorial governors assigned to overseeing Agustria. It wasn't what he had planned, but it wound up working with his plan.

The imperial authorities tried to keep the assassination of the governor quiet initially, but when they found out... that was the last thing that they needed to inspire their own revolt. Following the Silessian's example by a couple of weeks. Combined with the siege of Leonster, this meant that the empire now had four full scale rebellions to contend with at once, and thus, they could not focus all their efforts on a single one.

Unfortunately, Dew spent to long in enemy territory. They caught onto him, and were eventually able to take him down. And so, on the day of his deepest penetration into the palace yet, he found himself backed into a corner.

The armor knights that initially cornered him, however, were slow, and he was nimble, so he braced his legs against the wall, and used the wind sword to launch himself off the wall and bounce off of their bodies and weave through them. Then he used it to destroy a stained glass window and make an opening for his escape. He leaped out of the building and onto the grounds of the palace.

But the imperial guard did not want to let him go so easily. Thus, they decided to attempt to reenact the Massacre from almost a score ago. They started throwing meteors at him. And missed every time. Dew wasn't the lead survivor for nothing. He actually knew how to **_dodge._**

[if that were only true in the game... I swear, I sound like TFS Piccolo whenever I play an FE game. 90% of the time it's the last freaking enemy to move that kills me after everyone else misses.]

He was almost home free when, out of nowhere, a purple explosion erupted from the ground and flung him into the air. The last thing that he saw before he passed out was a robed figure walking towards him. He could almost make out the hideous scars.

* * *

When he came to, he was chained by all four limbs and held aloft and taut. The scarred Loptyr priest was looming up at him. (Can you loom up at someone?) He immediately tried to interrogate him. Regarding his motives, methods, and asked him about the location of other Belhalla survivors and relations.

Dew just looked at him and said "Yea, I'm the reason that so many survived the massacre, initially. I don't know how well it stuck, but do you really think I'm about to undo my hard work? Plus, I've got kids at stake here. They're fully grown and hate my guts, but do you really think that I would do anything that could possibly hurt them? Like, ever? Believe me, you're going to get diddly squat from me."

The scarred priest seemed to study him for a few moments, then he said "I believe you."

Dew smiled "so why don't you go run along and tell your master that he won't be getting anything out of me, and that you're better off trying to kill me."

He was bluffing, of course. Trying to buy enough time to formulate an escape plan. Unfortunately, his words appeared to have set the scarred priest off.

" **MASTER?!** I AM MY OWN MASTER!" he proclaimed, before rushing forward and stabbing Dew in the gut with a glowing purple blade that had suddenly materialized in his hand.

At first, Dew stared in shock, then, tears welled up in his eyes. He'd always wanted to find a way to reconcile with Larcei, someway, somehow. Now, he'd never get that chance.

The priest drove his blade deeper, and the tears now poured down Dew's cheeks. Then he released the chains and did nothing to stop him from falling flat on his face. Thus, Dew dropped... dead on the floor.

Skaro let him lie for a minute, then he examined the body once more, then summoned a lackey and told him "Contact Archbishop Manfroy. Tell him that I believe that I have a new Deadlord candidate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... is it possible in one alternate universe that Dew is Lara's father? Think about it for a moment.


End file.
